WHILL MaaS Vision
Case Study
BRIEF
WOW has visualized the next generation personal mobility “WHILL” MaaS (Mobility as a Service) concept shown at CES2019.
PROCESS
Through “thought experiments” on visualizing the MaaS concept, investigate the possibility of specific services, world views, and markets for a next-generation concept.
RESULT
While aiming for a specific image of MaaS by specifying and visualizing the concept, it also acts as a presentation tool for business collaboration and investment procurement.
WHILL is a startup company that has created a new “wheelchair standard” for the digital age. The high-performance chair with a stylish look and powerful motor is designed to provide “vitality” to the rider by overcoming the hurdles faced by people with lower body disabilities, allowing them to meet people in ways and places where they couldn’t previously reach.
WHILL, which has until now enjoyed a reputation of reliability within the healthcare sector, aims to bring together mobility and city services into a next-generation concept with MaaS (Mobility as a Service) and will push forward with making it a reality.
WHILL, which has until now enjoyed a reputation of reliability within the healthcare sector, aims to bring together mobility and city services into a next-generation concept with MaaS (Mobility as a Service) and will push forward with making it a reality.
Why is WHILL aiming to make MaaS (Mobility as a Service) a reality?
WHILL wants to bring its ability to “provide vitality to people’s lives” to more than just people with disabilities of the lower body, expanding beyond the idea of “abled/disabled” to make the lives of all citizens easier. They aim to do this by making WHILL a part of cities’ infrastructure, combining with the city functions (food, clothing, shelter, recreation, beauty, etc.) to improve the lives of all people. This movie accelerates the cooperation with businesses and is the start of a grand concept to bring this world view into reality.
Thought experiment 1: emotion
Make clear the emotional aspect that goes beyond the functionality of WHILL.
Representative words:
・Rebellious spirit
・Anytime, Anywhere for everyone.
・Building (developing) a path to Will
・The link between emotion and operation
・New expressive people
・Freedom
・Partnership, biology
The keywords we can see from the extracted words (vision types)
・“Vitality” = “WHILL’s liveliness as a tool, like love” “A sense of dynamism from WHILL’s sense of natural operation”
Thought experiment 2: scalability of technology
With the themes of “Vitality” and “Infra Mobility,” consider “WHILL-like Infra Mobility” from the following two viewpoints
・Personal stories
・City simulations (city simulations based on maps)
“Trouble Travel”
Collect episodes of “troubles” met while traveling (mainly en route). From there, extract the compatibility of WHILL with public transport systems and memories and feelings related to the town. The theme of this homework explores the encounters that most affect the emotions of WHILL passengers, through which they feel the most significant change to their daily lives. “Travel troubles” is a metaphor to relive the experiences and situations in the WHILL passengers’ daily lives, and refers to the way the people around them react to the unforeseen situation faced by a stranger with a different physical body to themselves.
Thought experiment 3: Consider WHILL’s vision and brand
Think about WHILL’s vision and uniqueness from the points of view of “Vitality”, “Infra Mobility” and from personal stories.
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After the thought experiments, summarize the scenarios and vision.
Make clear the emotional aspect that goes beyond the functionality of WHILL.
Representative words:
・Rebellious spirit
・Anytime, Anywhere for everyone.
・Building (developing) a path to Will
・The link between emotion and operation
・New expressive people
・Freedom
・Partnership, biology
The keywords we can see from the extracted words (vision types)
・“Vitality” = “WHILL’s liveliness as a tool, like love” “A sense of dynamism from WHILL’s sense of natural operation”
Thought experiment 2: scalability of technology
With the themes of “Vitality” and “Infra Mobility,” consider “WHILL-like Infra Mobility” from the following two viewpoints
・Personal stories
・City simulations (city simulations based on maps)
“Trouble Travel”
Collect episodes of “troubles” met while traveling (mainly en route). From there, extract the compatibility of WHILL with public transport systems and memories and feelings related to the town. The theme of this homework explores the encounters that most affect the emotions of WHILL passengers, through which they feel the most significant change to their daily lives. “Travel troubles” is a metaphor to relive the experiences and situations in the WHILL passengers’ daily lives, and refers to the way the people around them react to the unforeseen situation faced by a stranger with a different physical body to themselves.
Thought experiment 3: Consider WHILL’s vision and brand
Think about WHILL’s vision and uniqueness from the points of view of “Vitality”, “Infra Mobility” and from personal stories.
↓
After the thought experiments, summarize the scenarios and vision.
Credits
WOW
Conceptor / Creative Director：Yuki Tazaki
Director：Shingo Abe
Visual Designer：Tomoya Kimpara, Hiroshi Takagishi, Itsuki Maeshiro
Planner：Shigetaka Makabe
Producer：Ko Yamamoto
Advisor : Akihiko Mori (Journalist) / Keisuke Toyoda (noiz architects) / Arina Tsukada (Whole Universe)
