Human-Centered Connected Cities: Insights from Our Tokyo Event on the Future of Urban Mobility

Mormedi recently collaborated with the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) to host an event titled “Designing Tomorrow’s Urban Mobility: Building Human-Centered Connected Cities.” Held at the Tokyo American Club, the evening brought together industry leaders from Nissan, Sony Honda Mobility, and Fujitsu to discuss the convergence of technology, society, and the built environment.

The discussion moved beyond the technical "how-to" of smart cities to address a more fundamental question: how do we ensure the connected city remains deeply human?

Mobility as a Social Equalizer: The Nissan Vision

The evening began with a fireside chat featuring Richard Candler, Vice President of Global Product Strategy at Nissan Motor Corporation, moderated by Mormedi CEO Jaime Moreno. Candler framed mobility as a critical societal challenge, noting that while demand for mobility has remained steady, the supply is shrinking, highlighted by a 30% decrease in taxi drivers in Japan over the last decade.

Nissan’s strategy focuses on "Barrier-Free Mobility," targeting "Mobility Deserts" and those currently excluded from traditional transport, such as the elderly, health-limited citizens, and pre-licensed youth.

• The Car as an Investment: Candler introduced a shift from ownership to "Mobility-as-Access," where autonomous vehicles are "Always in Motion" and can be monetized 24/7 when not in use by the owner.
• The Autonomy Roadmap: Nissan is moving "Pilots to Reality" with driverless trials in Yokohama and an E2E AI technology partnership with Wayve to bring hands-off driving to nearly all Nissan and Infiniti lineups starting in FY27.
• Productive Time: By shifting 30 million+ job roles toward higher value and turning the 120-hour annual commute into productive time, Nissan envisions mobility as a global social equalizer.

Designing the Experience: AFEELA and the Social Digital Twin

Following the fireside chat, Maruan El Mahgiub, Vice President of Business Innovation at Mormedi, moderated a panel featuring Daisuke Ishii, Head of Design and Brand Strategy at Sony Honda Mobility and Takashi Omori, Fleet Management Optimization Manager at Fujitsu.

Daisuke Ishii explored the internal experience of the AFEELA prototype. He defined the vehicle as a "sensing platform" that emphasizes "Autonomy, Augmentation, and Affinity."

• Creative Playground: Through the AFEELA Co-Creation Program, the vehicle becomes an open platform where developers and artists can treat the cabin as a "listening room" or a "musical instrument," redefining the relationship between the driver and the city.

Takashi Omori provided the systemic infrastructure view. Fujitsu’s Social Digital Twin (SDT) aims to digitize entire societies to enable "Digital Rehearsals."

• Scientific Planning: By blending behavioral economics with AI, the SDT allows city planners to simulate and verify the impact of policies in a digital space before real-world implementation.
• Scaling Software: To manage the "complexity explosion" of Software-Defined Vehicles (SDVs), Omori-san highlighted the use of Multi-AI Agents to support the software development lifecycle, ensuring safety and quality despite a global talent shortage.

The Path Forward

The common thread between all speakers was the necessity of cross-industry ecosystems. Whether it is Nissan’s vision of mobility hubs that act more like networks than buildings, or Sony Honda’s engagement with the global creator community, or Fujitsu working with stakeholders as diverse as OEMs and city planners, the message was clear: no single company can build the future of mobility alone.

At Mormedi, we believe that the true value of a connected city is found in the harmony between high-speed infrastructure and high-emotion experience. As we look toward the 2027 mass-application of these technologies, the goal remains to enrich people's lives through innovation that remains resolutely human-centric.

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