But now, Kadowaki and Denso are turning their attention to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As part of a new program, Kadowaki’s seven-member team will teach medical researchers and epidemiologists how to use the world’s only commercially available quantum computer to battle the deadly virus. Since 2017, Denso and some other companies worldwide have been using that computer, which is physically located in Canada and operated by D-Wave Systems Inc.
D-Wave is now allowing unrestricted free cloud access to its quantum computer to anyone working on COVID-19 response in 35 countries across North America, Europe and Asia.
Denso’s team will train those researchers on how to work the computer and develop the algorithms needed to find solutions to the disease and its spread.
“We want to show that quantum computing can be useful for society in general,” Kadowaki told Automotive News.
Other nonautomotive applications include mapping escape routes from tsunamis so that people can evacuate without creating deadly traffic jams.
