JAPAN MAKES FIRST TEST WITH PASSENGERS IN AUTONOMOUS BUSES

A small vehicle, almost a wheeled hub, with capacity for only 12 people traveling slowly on a small stretch of a remote road. It was thus discreetly that the tests began with passengers of the autonomous bus that Japan intends to put into operation. The experiment was carried out in Akita province in the north of the country.

The vehicle, called the "Robot Shuttle", made a shuttle on a 400-meter route on a regional road, traveling at only 10 km / h. Circulation of normal cars was interrupted during the test. The bus - in fact, a micro-bus - was developed by the French company EasyMile and uses GPS, sensors and cameras to move around and avoid obstacles. Inside it, six people can sit down and six people can stand. There is no driver's cab or steering wheel.

Although there are already plans to use autonomous buses in major cities around the world, Japanese plans are more discreet, which even explains the nature of Sunday's test. The project is to have the Robot Shuttle operational only in 2025, serving remote and low population density areas where transport costs are particularly high due to lack of scale.

In these regions, as Akita, up to 40% of the population exceeds 65 years of age and has difficulty locomotion. For the same reason, the authorities also encourage the development of services delivered via drones to the elderly.

However, the next step of the Robot Shuttle does not have the older residents targeted. The goal is to use this technology to promote the local economy. In 2020, the Akita government intends to have the standalone vehicle taking tourists on walks around Lake Tazawa.