May Mobility Partners with ITOCHU to Globalize Remote AV Support at Scale

-- The partnership will accelerate global scaling capabilities of May Mobility's driverless operations --

-- May Mobility establishes itself as the leading Autonomy-as-a-Service (AaaS) platform --

ANN ARBOR, Mich., May 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- May Mobility, Inc., a leading autonomous vehicle (AV) technology company, today announced a strategic partnership with ITOCHU Corporation, one of the leading Japanese sogo shosha, to help accelerate driverless deployments globally over the coming years. Beginning with a collaboration with one of ITOCHU's portfolios, BELLSYSTEM24, a customer experience and business process outsourcing solution provider, May Mobility will be able to quickly deploy thousands of driverless vehicles and support millions of riders with the AV company's Tele-assist and Rider Support platforms.

As May Mobility launches additional driverless operations, its Tele-assist platform will continue to rely on the Multi-Policy Decision Making (MPDM) driving technology's reasoning models with minimal human intervention. Unlike companies that use tele-driving to control or completely take over an autonomous vehicle, May Mobility's Tele-assist platform makes it possible for a remote monitor to easily guide and assist multiple vehicles, enhancing safe operations at scale.

The collaboration represents a first-of-its-kind in autonomous mobility, with May Mobility becoming the first AV company to partner with a global leader in business process and customer experience outsourcing. The partnership will leverage BELLSYSTEM24's expertise in workflow optimizations to increase the efficiency of May Mobility's Tele-assist process at an industry-leading cost, further cementing May's path to becoming the first and most profitable player in the AV industry.

"When building a safe autonomy system, it makes no sense to replace the driver behind the wheel with another driver behind the curtain. We created a better way," said Edwin Olson, CEO and founder of May Mobility. "Partnering with ITOCHU, we will take a highly efficient, safety-first approach as we ramp up the deployment of our driverless operations."

BELLSYSTEM24 brings more than 40 years of customer support experience alongside a proprietary operation management system with state-of-the-art AI issue identification and resolution capabilities. Integrating May Mobility's Tele-assist and Rider Support platforms directly into BELLSYSTEM24's support platform will provide a custom solution that unlocks the future of AVs as May Mobility expands rapidly across the U.S. and Japan. The proposed collaboration will build upon May's technical capabilities and provide additional levels of support and redundancy for customers and partners.

"We are very excited to expand the business by combining May's advanced technical capabilities with our group solutions," said Masato Horiuchi, COO, ICT Division of ITOCHU. "In addition to supporting driverless operations with BELLSYSTEM24, we will promote this business collaboration by leveraging the comprehensive group strengths unique to a Japanese sogo shosha in areas such as geographical data and building IT infrastructure."

Working with ITOCHU, May Mobility further solidifies its place as the pre-eminent Autonomy-as-a-Service company, building a network of best-in-class partners while focusing on optimizing MPDM for global deployment at mass scale.

In November 2024, May Mobility signed a multi-year agreement with Lyft to launch autonomous vehicles across multiple U.S. markets, starting in Atlanta this summer. May Mobility also announced its plans to deploy thousands of vehicles on the Uber platform over the next few years, with an initial launch planned for Arlington, Texas. The ITOCHU partnership will provide essential support to driverless operations as May Mobility quickly deploys thousands of autonomous vehicles across the US and abroad.

About May Mobility
May Mobility is an autonomous vehicle (AV) technology company redefining the future of autonomy-as-a-service (AaaS). Leveraging its patented Multi-Policy Decision Making (MPDM) system, May Mobility built an industry-leading in-situ AI solution, which integrates real-time data every 200 milliseconds to ensure safety and efficiency, even in unpredictable situations. May Mobility's technology pairs live, online learning with traditional offline training, enabling rapid deployment in a fraction of the time. Operating on-demand vehicles across the U.S. and Japan, May Mobility delivers safer, more efficient transportation across diverse environments, including rural cities, dense urban areas and diverse weather conditions. Backed by strategic partnerships with industry leaders, including Toyota Motor Corporation and NTT, May Mobility is disrupting the autonomous vehicle industry with one of the most practical vehicle offerings available. The company has completed nearly half a million rides across 19 deployments worldwide. For more information, visit www.maymobility.com.

About ITOCHU
The history of ITOCHU Corporation dates back to 1858 when the Company's founder Chubei Itoh commenced linen trading operations. Since then, ITOCHU has evolved and grown over 160 years.
With approximately 90 bases in 61 countries, ITOCHU, one of the leading sogo shosha, is engaging in domestic trading, import/export, and overseas trading of various products such as textile, machinery, metals, minerals, energy, chemicals, food, general products, realty, information and communications technology, and finance, as well as business investment in Japan and overseas.

Website: https://www.itochu.co.jp/en/index.html

About BELLSYSTEM24
In 1982, BELLSYSTEM24 launched its first full-fledged call center service in Japan. Since then, we have developed a wide range of outsourcing businesses centered on contact centers that serve as points of contact between businesses and consumers, creating an industry-standard model. Based on the operational expertise we have cultivated by combining the strengths of "people" and "technology," we will realize our "sustain the prosperity of society, through innovation and communication," which is our purpose, by developing and providing various solutions.

Website: https://www.bell24.co.jp/en/

SOURCE May Mobility