※This is a machine-translated text of the original article.
SoftBank Corp’s subsidiary SB Drive Corp. announced that it would cooperate with Macnica Inc and town of Sakai in Ibaraki Prefecture to commercialize a bus that automatically drives public roads that have been set up in advance.
In town of Sakai, autonomous buses “NAVYA ARMA” will be operated on fixed routes and regular schedule as a means of transportation in the town by April 2020.
This is the first time that a local government has put autonomous buses into practical use on public roads in Japan.
Town of Sakai begins to operate autonomous buses on routes connecting medical facilities, post offices, schools, banks, etc. in the town.
SB Drive’s autonomous buses “NAVYA ARMA” are equipped with certified numbers and its autonomous vehicle operation platform Dispatcher can manage and monitor the operation of several autonomous vehicles from a remote location at the same time.
“Dispatcher” is equipped with an AI (artificial intelligence) function that detects passengers who tend to fall into or out of their seats or move in a vehicle while in motion, which attracts attention to remote monitors. It also has a function that allows users to check on maps where and how many times these events have occurred in the past in order to improve operation routes and vehicle settings. It also has a function to specify the departure and destination and issue driving instructions to vehicles from a remote location.
SB Drive Corp. opens a satellite office in a shared office in the town. In the early stages, SB Drive Corp. employees train drivers of the buses in the satellite office and support bus operation management using Dispatcher.
Macnica provides town of Sakai with autonomous buses “NAVYA ARMA” that recognize and judge the surrounding environment using autonomous driving software based on the information obtained from various sensors installed for autonomous driving, and supports the software so that town of Sakai can operate buses stably even after purchasing the vehicles.
The three parties intend to conclude a collaborative agreement to revitalize the local and industrial sectors and to improve town services through new mobility services, and to work on the development of town of Sakai.
Original Text: https://ampmedia.jp/2020/01/27/sbdrive/