MoveEz wins ¥30M ISICO grant for all-weather robotaxis

What's the deal? MoveEzDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a Kanazawa-based autonomous driving startup, has been awarded a ¥30 million grant through the ishikawa sunrise industries creation organization's (ISICO) 2026 "Growth Strategy Fund." The grant supports research and development of digital products and services, covering up to two-thirds of eligible costs over as long as three years.

What's the company building? Spun out of Kanazawa UniversityDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → in May 2024, MoveEz is developing fully autonomous robotaxis. Its aim, per the company, is "to free the movement of all people and create a society without transport inequality."

Why now? Japan's regional cities face shrinking populations and driver shortages that threaten local bus and taxi services. Most robotaxi development targets big cities and fair-weather regions, leaving snowy, rural areas underserved.

What's the endgame? The grant funds two technical priorities: vehicle sensors that resist rain and snow, and more efficient mapping. LiDAR and cameras lose accuracy when droplets or snow settle on sensors, and mapping new areas is slow and costly.

MoveEz uses simplified 2D maps focused on essential road data rather than detailed 3D maps, cutting the time and cost of expanding to new regions. It plans to sharpen both technologies alongside Kanazawa University to test and commercialise robotaxis for snow-country and rural use.

The track record: The company's work builds on 28 years of research at Kanazawa University dating to 1998. It began public-road testing in 2015 and reports 40,000km driven, 2,000 passengers carried, and numerous patents held.

The signal: At roughly $188,824, the grant sits around the 51st percentile for deal size — a modest, non-dilutive boost rather than a headline raise. But it signals public backing for autonomous mobility built for the conditions most robotaxi programmes still avoid: snow, weak weather, and thin rural demand.

Image credit: MoveEz