Narita Airport, NTT, KDDI, etc. will embark on a demonstration experiment to operate an autonomous bus using 5G, which is a high-speed, large-capacity communication.
It is rare for major rival telecommunications companies to join hands, and we aim to automate the operation of buses in airports where there is concern about labor shortages.
The demonstration experiment will be conducted by the operating company of Narita Airport, NTT East, KDDI, and Tier IV, a venture company that develops autonomous driving technology.
This is an experiment in which a shuttle bus that travels between Terminals 2 and 3 of Narita Airport is operated automatically, and will take two weeks from the 14th of this month.
The bus is equipped with multiple cameras and sensors, and the clear images of the cameras are sent in real time to the surveillance center in the airport with 5G with almost no communication delay, and the bus is operated remotely in an emergency.
In the experiment, local 5G that can be used in a small area and 5G technology that can be used with mobile phones etc. are used, and NTT East will provide local 5G and KDDI will provide 5G.
It is rare for two major rival telecommunications companies to collaborate in business, and after verifying technical issues, we are aiming to expand to other airports in the future.
Collaboration between telecommunications companies centered on 5G is expected in fields such as agriculture and logistics, which are suffering from labor shortages, such as buses in airports.