Modeco

Name

Modeco

Legal name

合同会社MODECO

Website

https://modeco-ad.jp

Company type

Private

Founded year

2024

Operating status

Operating

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Autonomous Driving Education and Consulting

akta.pro primary industry

Autonomous Driving & ADAS Perception (HDAAAEAI)

Keywords

• Autonomous driving education
• ADAS technical consulting
• Model predictive control
• Autonomous minicar kits
• Engineering reskilling seminars

Headquarters

HQ city

Gifu

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Supply Chain, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. ModeCar Product Sales: Sale of autonomous driving learning kits including complete vehicles (R4D), assembly kits, platform modification sets, encoder kits, and driving mats. One-time hardware purchase model with optional 6-month maintenance plan.
2. Maintenance and Support Services: 6-month maintenance plans covering component replacement, overhaul services, mail-in repairs, and on-site support. Recurring revenue from maintenance plan renewals.
3. Technical Seminars and Training: Hands-on seminars on autonomous driving technology. In-person seminars priced at 40,000-50,000 yen, online at 25,000-35,000 yen. Organized through industry association (Institute of Systems, Control and Information Engineers).
4. Consulting Services: Technical consulting on autonomous driving, ADAS, vehicle control, human behavior modeling, model predictive control, motion planning and optimization. Leverages university research experience for corporate problem-solving.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Modeco designs, assembles and sells the ModeCar line of 1/10-scale autonomous-driving learning kits (R4D ready-to-drive vehicle, assembly kit, platform modification set, encoder kit, driving mats) based on a TAMIYA TT02 chassis with Raspberry Pi 4B, RPLidar A1M8 and RPi Camera V3. It also delivers supporting services: a 6-month hardware maintenance plan, hands-on autonomous-driving seminars, and B2B technical consulting and reskilling education for automotive engineers across autonomous driving, ADAS, vehicle control, human behavior modeling and Model Predictive Control.

Product overview

MODECO offers a product portfolio centered on the ModeCar autonomous driving learning platform. The main products include the ModeCar TT02 R4D (ready-to-drive completed vehicle), ModeCar TT02 Assembly Kit (DIY version), Platform Modification Set, and Encoder Kit as add-on components. These products are based on the TAMIYA TT02 chassis equipped with Raspberry Pi, RPLIDAR A1M8, and RPi Camera V3. Supporting services include a 6-month Maintenance Plan, consulting services leveraging Nagoya University research expertise, and professional education/reskilling programs for engineers. The company also hosts the MAGP (Minicar Autonomous Grand Prix) competition and hands-on seminars for autonomous driving education.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ModeCar: Self-driving learning kit platform for autonomous driving education. Products include ModeCar TT02 R4D (ready-to-drive completed vehicle), ModeCar TT02 assembly kit, TT02 platform modification kit, TT02 encoder kit, and driving mats. Uses TAMIYA TT02 chassis with Raspberry Pi, LIDAR sensors, and cameras for autonomous driving research and education.

Products and services

• ModeCar TT02 R4D Complete Vehicle Set (ModeCar ADRC-TT02 R4D) Ready-for-Drive complete autonomous-driving learning platform built on a TAMIYA TT02 chassis and equipped with a Raspberry Pi 4B (4GB), RPLidar A1M8-R6, RPi Camera V3 Wide and a 10,000 mAh mobile battery. Pre-wired and pre-integrated for image recognition, LIDAR signal processing, AI, PID control, state feedback control and non-holonomic motion planning. Sold to students, researchers and labs that want a turnkey platform.
• ModeCar TT02 Assembly Kit (ModeCar ADRC-TT02 Building Kit) Self-assembly autonomous-driving kit including the TAMIYA TT02 chassis, Raspberry Pi 4B, RPLidar A1M8, RPi Camera V3, encoder kit and preinstalled SD card with sample programs. Intended for learners and researchers who want to build and configure the platform themselves at a lower price point than the R4D.
• TT02 Platform Modification Set MODECO-original conversion kit that adapts an existing TAMIYA TT02 RC chassis into the ModeCar autonomous-driving specification, including acrylic plates, encoder kit, camera mount, LIDAR mount and wiring. Sold to customers who already own a TAMIYA TT02 chassis and the key electronics and want to convert it into a ModeCar.
• TT02 Encoder Kit (Left or Right wheel encoder) Optical encoder kit for the TAMIYA TT02 on-road specification that measures tire rotation at 36 pulses per revolution with A/B phase output for 4x quadrature counting. Sold standalone as either a left (L) or right (R) wheel encoder, or as an L+R set, giving customers a high-resolution wheel-speed signal for control and state estimation.
• Driving Mat Set Joint mat kit (about 240 cm x 300 cm, 20 joint mats) plus 40 mm x 25 m line tape and white cloth tape for assembling minicar driving courses. Provides a consistent, floor-protecting surface and the line markings needed for image-recognition training and the MAGP competition.
• ModeCar 6-Month Maintenance Plan Recurring maintenance contract priced at 50,000 yen per vehicle per 6 months, covering up to two mail-in/out repairs, up to three component replacements for MODECO original parts, up to two full overhauls and up to three on-site service visits within the service area. Covers Raspberry Pi, LIDAR, camera, mobile battery and MODECO original components.
• Autonomous Driving Technical Consulting Technical consulting on autonomous driving, ADAS, vehicle control, human behavior modeling, motion planning, model predictive control and related modeling and control topics, leveraging the founder's university research experience to transfer technology to corporate clients.
• Autonomous Driving Hands-on Seminar (in-person and online) Paid hands-on training using the ModeCar minicar to teach LIDAR-based rule-based autonomous driving and End-to-End machine-learning approaches. In-person sessions cost 40,000-50,000 yen (member/non-member) and online sessions cost 25,000-35,000 yen, with an optional mini-car add-on for on-site purchase. Co-organized with ISCIE and held at Nagoya University.

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability7 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Nagoya UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 January 2024MODECO was founded by Associate Professor Hiroyuki Okuda from Nagoya University's Graduate School of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Systems. The company operates with permission from Nagoya University for concurrent business. MAGP competitions are hosted at Nagoya University facilities. Suzuken Lab (Mobility Systems Group) at Nagoya University maintains research ties with MODECO.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• MathWorks: Maker of MATLAB and Simulink, widely used in automotive control systems education and ADAS development. Comparable as a provider of tools for teaching and prototyping vehicle control and autonomous driving algorithms - a complementary or substitutive tool to MODECO's offering.
• NVIDIA DRIVE: NVIDIA's end-to-end AV development platform covering simulation, training, and in-vehicle compute. Comparable as an AV development and education platform, though targeting enterprise AV developers rather than the educational minicar niche MODECO serves.
• Tier IV: Japanese autonomous driving company and steward of the Autoware open-source AV software platform. Comparable as a Japan-based AV technology leader and as a potential downstream ecosystem user of ModeCar for AV education.
• Applied Intuition: AV and ADAS simulation and development toolchain provider serving global OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers. Comparable as a developer-facing AV tooling company, though at much larger scale and with a simulation-first approach.

Emerging players

• Cognata: AV and ADAS simulation platform used by automakers for development and validation. Comparable as a technology provider supporting AV development workflows, though focused on simulation rather than physical minicar platforms.
• MIT RACECAR: MIT Lincoln Laboratory's educational autonomous racing platform used in university courses. Comparable to ModeCar as an academic-grade AV learning platform, though more research-oriented and tied to a specific curriculum.

Direct peers

• AWS DeepRacer: Amazon's 1/18 scale autonomous racing car designed for developers to learn reinforcement learning and autonomous driving concepts. Like ModeCar, it provides a small-scale hardware platform for AV/ML education and runs community racing competitions.
• Donkey Car: Open-source DIY self-driving platform using RC cars, Raspberry Pi, and computer vision. Closely comparable to ModeCar in target users (hobbyists, students, researchers) and technology stack (commodity RC chassis + SBC + camera).
• Udacity Self-Driving Car Engineer Nanodegree: Online educational program (now part of Accenture) teaching autonomous driving engineering. Comparable to MODECO's professional education offering for engineers reskilling into AV/ADAS, though delivered as software courses rather than hardware kits.

Others

• Preferred Networks: Japanese deep learning company with autonomous driving applications and historical partnerships with Toyota. Comparable as a Japan-based AI/AV technology ecosystem participant, though operating at far greater scale and with broader scope than MODECO.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@MODECO-AD

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Modeco