How can we understand the differences between France and Japan in the growth of shared mobility services?

This discussion paper aims to question and analyze the differences between France and Japan in the development of shared mobility service by considering the question of trust in an individual as a key to the growth of a new mobility system. In both countries, the shared mobility is booming but their developments can vary according to the shard mobility types (car-sharing or carpooling, B to C or B to B, etc.). Various factors like governmental policy, economical, social and geographical contexts of each country can have an impact on the service development. In this research, I focus particularly on social relationship with ‘strangers' form a sociological standpoint. Firstly, the paper identifies existing services in France and Japan and compares its current state of development (user numbers and user profiles), then deals with the question of trust from a sociological standpoint, by comparing with carpooling service websites such as ‘Blablacar' in France and ‘notteco' in Japan. From this comparison, the discussion paper proposes a hypothesis to study the relationship between the using carpooling service and the trust in an individual and suggests direction for further research.