Shutoko Heavy AI Users Grow 10-Fold in One Year
A conservative, safety-first infrastructure operator with an average employee age of 43.9 grew heavy AI use 10-fold, showing adoption is possible without a young, IT-native workforce.
Reporting from 1 source: ASCII.jp.
Metropolitan Expressway, known as Shutoko, saw its heavy AI users grow from 22 to 224 in one year. Deputy Section Manager Yuya Suzuki presented the adoption journey at Google Cloud Next Tokyo 26. The turning point came with Google Workspace pricing changes and Gemini Notebook, formerly NotebookLM. Early video training efforts stumbled before steady measures took hold.
Shutoko is not an IT company. It builds and runs urban expressways in Tokyo, including the Rainbow Bridge and Yamate Tunnel, and it was privatized in 2005 after operating as a public corporation. The DX Promotion Office was set up in 2021, but annual employee surveys kept returning the same complaint: DX is important in principle, but staff could not feel a personal benefit.
The shift began when new Google Workspace pricing arrived alongside Gemini Notebook, the tool formerly called NotebookLM. Video training did not work. What did was steady, practical measures that resonated with non-IT staff. The number of employees using Gemini more than 100 times per month climbed from 22 to 224 over one year.
Suzuki presented the case at Google Cloud Next Tokyo 26 at the end of July 2026. The company still faces the cultural reality of prioritizing safety and security, where change does not come easily.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.