Robot Bus Carries Passengers in 1st Public Road Test in Japan

Senboku, Akita Pref., Nov. 13 (Jiji Press)--A driverless bus with passengers on board slowly traveled on a lakeside road in the city of Senboku in the northeastern Japan prefecture of Akita on Sunday. In the public road test of an automated bus, the first of its kind in Japan, the "Robot Shuttle" electric vehicle went back and forth on a 400-meter closed section along Lake Tazawa on a prefectural road at speeds of around 10 kilometers per hour. The bus has 12-passenger capacity. But it carried six people at once. DeNA Co. <2432> conducted the test on behalf of the Cabinet Office and the Senboku municipal government, which are exploring the possibility of introducing an automated public transportation system in sparsely populated areas. The robot bus uses the global positioning system, various sensors and cameras to navigate around obstacles. "As the ride was smooth and quiet, I thought I could enjoy chatting with a friend in the bus," said Seiko Fujimura, a 77-year-old resident of Senboku, a state-designated special zone for regional vitalization. "The bus gave me a more comfortable ride than a car driven by my father," said Rikuto Tomishima, an 8-year-old boy in the same city. Regional revitalization minister Kozo Yamamoto took part in the experiment and rode the bus. END