TOKYO -- A Japanese startup is using quantum computing to calculate the most efficient routes and methods to transport goods, as a labor shortage and increasing demand strains Japan's logistics industry.
Tokyo-based A Star Quantum will provide quantum computing software to three Japanese logistics companies as early as October. The startup's technology can perform complex calculations to determine the best transportation options based on parameters such as cost, type of vehicle and traveling time, helping its customers to minimize the number of drivers needed and to cut costs.
A Star Quantum, founded in 2018, raised 300 million yen ($2.7 million) last year in its series A funding round. Backers included Abies Ventures, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, and Plug and Play Tech Center of the U.S.
AQ has attracted the attention of logistics companies, Chief Executive Koji Funabashi told Nikkei Asia. Effectively managing the best routes using analog methods is a complicated task that requires experienced staff. Companies are also facing increasing volume of parcels as the pandemic keeps people at home, along with a shortage of drivers as Japan's labor pool shrinks. Funabashi added that more efficient delivery routes reduces carbon dioxide emissions -- an important goal as Japan aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
To gain an edge in the logistics sector, AQ is working with partners to develop systems for land, air and sea transport. The aim is to build its know-how and offer better service across a range of transport options. The three companies that AQ is providing its software to initially are focused on land transport. The startup also announced in February that it had begun trials with Japan Airlines "to solve issues and develop next-generation services."
"We want to make our system the only option when companies want to optimize [their logistics] throughout different transportation modes," Funabashi said.
Tech giants such as IBM and Google are racing to develop quantum computers. Canada's D-Wave Systems commercialized quantum computers in 2011 for the first time. In 2019, Google announced that it achieved "quantum supremacy," by performing calculations in just a few minutes using quantum computing that would take a conventional supercomputer thousands of years to work out. Chinese companies such as Alibaba Group Holding are also working in quantum computing.
The field is seen as the next game-changer in areas including health care and finance. Unlike artificial intelligence, which relies on statistics and probabilities, quantum computing makes it possible to come up with the "best answer" to solve specific problems, said Funabashi.
Quantum computers offer other advantages: They can perform certain types of calculations much more quickly than ordinary conventional computers. They also require less energy and space and are cheaper than super computers, Funabashi said.
In simulations AQ conducted with Japan Post, the country's postal service, a quantum computing calculation showed that one post office was able to reduce the number of delivery trucks by 8%. Regional post offices dispatch trucks to deliver postal items to smaller post and pick them up. The offices operate under time constraints. Previous attempts to optimize the flow of vehicles using AI took too long and were not successful, according to Funabashi.
Before he founded AQ Funabashi developed systems for companies such as Recruit, an information provider best known for its staffing service. He also worked with another future founder of AQ, Kiyoshi Oura, the company's chief marketing officer, to improve SoftBank robot Pepper's interactions with people. Such projects convinced the two that some tasks cannot be performed adequately with conventional computers or AI.
For instance, a person might ask Pepper if it knows Natsume Soseki, a famous Japanese novelist. Pepper's response, based on statistical probabilities, might generate an answer that Natsume Soseki is most famous for a book called "I am a cat."
Pepper might then try to keep the conversation on cats going because cats are very popular pets. But the human talking to Pepper might be interested in other things associated with Soseki, such as the old 1,000 yen notes the novelist was printed on.
"Statistics are not the solution for dealing with individuals," said Funabashi. That conclusion led Funabashi and Oura to look into quantum computing as a technology with great potential, such as the ability to instantly come up with the best answer out of a vast range of possible responses, depending on a particular person's needs.
AQ is also trying to analyze car accidents using data from an insurance company to minimize risks to logistics providers and cut insurance payouts. The company is also working in other areas. It has partnered with Dentsu on TV advertisements and with Tokyo Medical University to automate diagnoses.
Over the long term AQ, wants to create a more versatile service that makes quantum computing available to people who are not specialists in the technology. Funabashi said quantum computing will be like AI, which can now be used "to some extent by anyone using AI software."
"One of our big missions is to commoditize quantum computers," Funabashi said.