Dozens of people in Japan are to be whisked to local shops in driverless taxis from next year in an experiment with robot technology that could be fully commercial by the time Tokyo hosts the Summer Olympics in 2020.
From March, the taxis are to take about 50 residents of Fujisawa, a large coastal town near Tokyo, from their homes to supermarkets along the city’s main roads in journeys of about 3km.
Robot Taxi — a collaboration between ZMP Inc, a developer of automated vehicle technology, and mobile Internet firm DeNa Co — is expected to intensify the global race, involving Google Inc, Ford Motor Co, BMW AG and other firms, to put driverless vehicles in the consumer market.
While Japanese developers have faith in the car’s GPS, radar and stereovision cameras, attendants are to sit in the driver’s seat during the journeys in case human intervention is needed, according to media reports.
If the Fujisawa trials are successful, the cars could be used to ferry spectators during the Games and in rural communities with little or no public transport.
As one of the fastest-aging societies in the world, Japan is thought to be ideal for the introduction of self-driving vehicles, amid a rise in the number of accidents involving older drivers.
The number of Japanese drivers aged 75 or older was 4.25 million in 2013 and is expected to exceed 5 million in three years.
The age of the “silver” driver prompted Japanese police to seek a revision to traffic laws that require drivers aged over 74 who are suspected of suffering from dementia to a provide a “fit-to-drive” document from their doctor.
Japan’s police agency said drivers aged 75 or older were responsible for 458 fatal road accidents in 2013, a rise of 20 percent over a decade.
Technological obstacles and safety concerns aside, Japan would also have to change its road traffic laws stipulating that all vehicles must have drivers.
Officials in Fujisawa, which is aiming to become Japan’s first sustainable “smart town,” said the trial would be the first using the driverless vehicles on local roads, and with residents as passengers.
“This time, the robot taxi experiment will be conducted on actual city streets. I think this is quite amazing,” Kanagawa Prefecture Governor Yuji Kuroiwa told reporters at the vehicle’s media launch, according to the Japan Times.
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