Japan is pushing for 50 locations with driverless services in place within three years, but fully autonomous vehicles remain nearly nonexistent in the country.
So far, Fukui prefecture on the main island of Honshu is the only place with vehicles featuring level-4 capabilities — defined when they can handle all driving tasks — but only under specific conditions with the option for humans to take over. In the town of Eiheiji, the seven-seater golf carts are only allowed to navigate a 2 kilometer course. Maximum speed: 12 kilometers per hour.
“There are many possibilities to use these vehicles,” said Hideyuki Yamada, president of Machidukuri ZEN Connect Inc., which runs the service in Fukui. Right now, their biggest hurdle is that they aren’t allowed to cross intersections. Once that is removed, level-4 services could “spread across Japan, as it’s a small nation,” he said.
Nissan currently has ProPILOT 2.0, which enables drivers to drive hands-off on a highway, installed in its Japanese and US Ariya models, and the Serena in Japan. Zen Connect’s Yamada said no accidents have occurred since the service began in Fukui. Yamaha Motor Co. designed the self-driving cars, while the sensors and cameras were provided by Mitsubishi Electric Corp. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has visited the site, as have representatives from Toyota, Nissan and Denso Corp.
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