JR West Japan and SoftBank will begin demonstration tests on public roads in Hiroshima Prefecture in November with the aim of commercializing a system that utilizes autonomous driving technology to train buses on dedicated roads.
This was revealed at a press conference held by the two companies in Kyoto.
JR West Japan and SoftBank had been conducting experiments at a test course in Yasu City, Shiga Prefecture since the beginning of the study to enable bus platooning with autonomous driving, but after clearing issues such as the timing of braking and opening and closing doors of the buses in front and behind, they decided to start a demonstration experiment on public roads.
Specifically, part of the prefectural road and city road connecting JR Saijo Station in Higashihiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture and the Higashihiroshima Campus of Hiroshima University will be used as a dedicated road, and the bus that runs behind you will first run several hundred meters in a "level 4" state where there is no driver.
The BRT = Bus Rapid Transit System, which aims to increase transportation capacity by connecting vehicles and developing dedicated roads, is expected to continue to decline on local railway lines.
Keijiro Nakamura, Vice President of JR West Japan, said at a press conference, "It has the potential as one of the options for regional transportation in the future, and we would like to aim for practical use in the mid-2020s."
SoftBank President Junichi Miyakawa said, "We will advance initiatives toward the early realization of next-generation mobility services."