Practical use of self-driving free buses Connecting medical institutions and schools Ibaraki Sakaimachi January 27 14:22
Sakaimachi in Ibaraki Prefecture and SoftBank will start a free bus service connecting medical institutions and schools by autonomous driving. As maintaining public transport in the region becomes an issue, attention will be focused on whether its use will expand as a new means of transportation.
According to the announcement, Sakaimachi in Ibaraki Prefecture will cooperate with SB Drive, a subsidiary of Softbank, and operate a free self-driving bus on a public road approximately 5 km round trip connecting medical facilities and schools in the town from April.
The bus has a capacity of 11 people and there is no driver's seat or steering wheel in the car, and traveling is managed remotely, but in an emergency, a person who monitors the surroundings in the car drives with a dedicated controller.
Mayor Masahiro Hashimoto of Sakai-machi told a press conference held in Tokyo on the 27th that `` In the face of issues such as shortage of bus drivers and return of licenses for elderly people, we will introduce a town that will not be troubled by the introduction of this service. I want to make it. "
In addition, SB drive president Tomoki Saji said, "We aimed for practical use by what we can do in the current technology, law and environment. We want to solve transportation problems with IT."
According to the SB drive, it is the first 11-seater passenger car in Japan to be put into practical use on an autonomous bus that runs on public roads, and we will consider increasing the number of driving routes in Sakaimachi in the future. I am.