Self-driving taxis are hitting Japan’s roads next year
Self-driving taxis could become a common sight on the roads of Japan, as tests are being given the go-ahead for next year.
Announced Thursday by the Japanese government and Robot Taxi Inc., the trial will initially serve about 50 residents in the Kanagawa prefecture, shuttling them between their home and local grocery stores, according to The Wall Street Journal. There will be Robot Taxi crew members in the taxis during the travel experiment to avoid any possible accidents.
The company behind it, Robot Taxi, is a joint venture between mobile-internet firm DeNA and vehicle-technology developer ZMP.
“There are a lot of people who say it’s impossible, but I think this will happen faster than people expect”, Shinjiro Koizumi, one of Japan’s vice ministers, stated on October. 1 during a promotional event for the unmanned taxis.
In total, the cabs-which will be retrofitted Toyota Estima hybrid minivans-will drive a distance of about three kilometres (two miles), part of which will be on major (likely busy) roads in the city. A human operator will remain in the driver’s seat, just in case there are any hiccups.
Robot Taxi is aiming to deploy its cars by 2020 and has a number of applications in mind, from taking elderly people to the shops, to providing public transport in areas where there are no trains and buses.
Japan is the most rapidly aging nation on earth, with over 60,000 citizens aged 100 or older and a quarter of the entire country at least 65 years old.