Toyota Boshoku Corporation Corporate Innovation Partner — Forge Cohort 2

About Toyota Boshoku

Toyota Boshoku Corporation is a global Tier 1 automotive supplier founded in 1918, with annual revenues of approximately ¥1.95 trillion and over 45,000 employees worldwide. The company holds the #1 market share in Japan and #3 globally for automotive interior systems — including seating, door trims, and filtration components — with manufacturing presence across 92 locations in 21 countries.

As mobility spaces evolve beyond transportation, Toyota Boshoku is actively partnering with hardware startups to co-develop the next generation of vehicle interiors.

Focus Area 1 — Mobility Space Experience & UX

Advances in autonomous driving and electrification are making the quality of time spent inside a vehicle an increasingly important differentiator. Toyota Boshoku is evolving toward an "Interior Space Creator" — moving beyond seats and trim to actively shape the occupant experience.

The company is seeking hardware technologies for sensing and controlling occupant physical condition, comfort, and in-cabin environment, including:

• Vibration actuators embeddable in seats or floors

• In-car XR devices for window AR and immersive entertainment

• Seat-integrated vital sign sensors (non-contact heart rate, respiration, skin temperature)

• Ambient lighting modules responsive to occupant condition and context

Available environment: Access to domestic and international OEM customer networks across Japan, North America, China, and Europe, with opportunities for joint exhibitions and market validation.

Focus Area 2 — Manufacturing Quality & Inspection Automation

Toyota Boshoku produces seats and interior components across 92 global facilities. Advancing quality inspection and reducing dependence on skilled labor is an urgent operational priority — particularly for detecting seat frame operating sounds and abnormal noises, and for surface quality inspection of upholstery.

The company is seeking inspection hardware that can be retrofitted to existing production lines, including:

• Vibration and acoustic sensor units for automated abnormal noise detection

• Tactile sensors that quantify surface properties such as wrinkles, hardness, and distortion

• In-line camera inspection units for automated seam and shape evaluation

• Sensor network hardware enabling remote monitoring of equipment and fixed assets

Available environment: Potential for global deployment across 92 locations (22 domestic, 70 overseas), with early access to automotive parts quality standards and evaluation processes.

Focus Area 3 — Cabin Space Hardware for MaaS & Mobility Services

The spread of autonomous driving buses, ride-sharing, and MaaS services is driving demand to design the cabin as a "venue for mobility experience." Toyota Boshoku is already active in this space through its MOOX-RIDE project, currently implemented on the Nagoya City SRT.

The company is seeking hardware partners who can support multi-modal in-cabin experiences across diverse passenger use cases, including:

• Multimodal experience devices combining video, vibration, sound, and aroma

• Modular seat mechanisms adaptable to diverse passenger profiles and use cases

• In-car sterilization and air purification units for high-turnover environments

• Content-linked lighting and staging hardware tied to location and in-cabin programming

Available environment: Demonstration opportunities within the MOOX-RIDE project (Nagoya City SRT), a network of MaaS service providers in North America and China, and access to Forge's co-funded prototyping support of up to ¥2,000,000.

■ 主催者

ティーエスアイ株式会社

【ティーエスアイ株式会社とは】

テイーエスアイは、事業の育成を通じて日本の未来をつくるインキュベーション会社です。
アクセラレーションプログラム等を通じたスタートアップ支援、中小〜中堅企業向けの海外展開支援などを行っています。
URL：https://tsi-japan.com/

【Forgeとは】

Forgeは、東京都のTIB CATAPULTに採択されたグローバルなハードウェアアクセラレーターです。
日本のものづくり力と大企業パートナーのネットワークを組み合わせ、製造・実証・実装を前進させます。

プログラムを通じて、製造費用補助（最大200万円）、PoCトラック、投資家へのアクセスを提供します。
経験豊富なメンター／ファブスペース／DFM（製造容易性設計）支援を通じてハードウェアスタートアップの成長を実現します。
URL：https://forge-tokyo.com/

【TIB CATAPULTとは】

Tokyo Innovation Baseで形成されたプラットフォームをベースに、
都内の様々なインダストリーやテクノロジーの領域におけるスタートアップ協働の取組を支援し、
グローバルイノベーションに挑戦するクラスターの創出を目指します。
URL：https://tibcatapult.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/