Autonomous Commercial Taxi Test Launched in Tokyo

August 27, 2018

Tokyo- The world's first test commercial service of an autonomous taxi carrying passengers on public roads started in central Tokyo on Monday.

Taxi operator Hinomaru Kotsu Co. and robotics startup ZMP Inc., the developer of the autonomous taxi, will offer the test service through Sept. 8 on a 5.3-kilometer route linking the Otemachi and Roppongi business districts for customers with reservations.

The taxi will shuttle on the route four times a day, with a one-way fare set at 1,500 yen. As many as 1,500 applicants have been received for 96 test ride slots.

The two companies aim to introduce driverless taxi services on limited routes in 2020.

"The car merged into the traffic with nothing strange, just like ordinary taxis," said a 45-year-old self-employed man from Tokyo's Toshima Ward who took a ride in the autonomous taxi.

After taking the taxi ride together, the man's wife said, "There was nothing unnatural."

The test vehicle is a minivan equipped with a ZMP-developed self-driving system, which enables autonomous operations of the steering wheel, accelerator and brakes.

In the test service, a Hinomaru Kotsu driver sits in the driver's seat to handle possible emergency situations. On the first day, the driver switched to manual drive when a car traveling unstably approached the test vehicle. Jiji Press