The threat of Covid-19 was spreading and people were staying home for fear of infection. They were losing their freedom of movement. We thought that we could improve the situation by introducing Panasonic’s new nanoeX technology, which is effective at inhibiting viruses, to the world.

We focused our attention on the ride-hailing service Grab, which has become an established means of transportation in Southeast Asia. Panasonic collaborated with Grab to provide a new service called Anti-Virus Mobility, which makes it easy to hail a ride in a car equipped with nanoeX using a smartphone. The project was carried out in five cities in Southeast Asia, with a total of 5,500 drivers connected to the super-app platform. This enabled customers to easily come and go using their smartphones and the nanoeX-equipped cabs. The service flipped the perception of ride-hailing vehicles 180 degrees from something to be avoided due to a high risk of COVID-19 infection to a moving showroom where you can experience Panasonic’s new virus-inhibiting technology.