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Innovative Infrastructure Management in Japan

In an exciting development for infrastructure management, Tennchijin, a recognized space venture endorsed by JAXA, has joined forces with Aisin to spearhead Japan's first collaborative project integrating road and water management. This groundbreaking initiative, taking place in Iwata City, Shizuoka Prefecture, aims to enhance infrastructure oversight by examining the correlation between underground water main deterioration and surface road anomalies, such as cracks and potholes. Utilizing satellite data and AI-driven vehicle technology, the project seeks to revolutionize how local governments monitor and manage their infrastructure.

Project Overview

Commencing in September 2025 and concluding by the end of February 2026, the Iwata project seeks to consolidate previously separated inspections of infrastructure systems. By correlating the data related to road conditions with the risks of water leaks, the project aims to increase predictive accuracy, facilitate early detection of potential disasters, and reduce maintenance costs while addressing the workforce shortage in the industry.

Collaboration among various entities, including Iwata City's road patrol cars and a specially equipped taxi from Enshu Taxi, is critical to this project's success. By outfitting these vehicles with specialized cameras and data collection devices, the team can efficiently gather surface road data across the city of Iwata. The initiative ultimately strives to create a next-generation infrastructure management model that can be scaled both nationally and globally, establishing new standards in infrastructure digital transformation (DX).

Collaborative Roles:

Iwata City: Provides testing grounds and administrative oversight, including two road patrol vehicles equipped with cameras.
Tennchijin: Assesses and analyzes water leakage risks using satellite data and AI technology, as part of the Space Water Bureau initiative.
Aisin: Detects surface road irregularities and inspects asphalt conditions through AI-powered systems.
Enshu Taxi: Plays a pivotal role by collecting data with their equipped vehicle, focusing on areas within Iwata City.

Future Milestones:

August 19, 2025: Ceremony marking the signing of collaboration agreements.
September to December 2025: Execution and verification of the pilot experiments.

Data Integration and Analysis

In this initiative, the Space Water Bureau will integrate its leak risk diagnostics into the Michi-log dashboard. Vehicles equipped with cameras will focus on high-risk leak areas, capturing images of the roads at designated points. Michi-log can analyze these images to identify any anomalies in surface conditions, such as International Roughness Index (IRI) levels, cracks, or potholes. This data will subsequently feed into the Space Water Bureau for further correlation analysis between past leak histories and existing risks, enabling improved prediction accuracy.

By layering surface irregularities with underground leakage data, the project aims to identify early signs of potential road subsidence or sinkholes, marking a pioneering step for Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's