※This is a machine-translated text of the original article.

The Hitachi New Mobility Council, which consists of Ibaraki Kotsu Co Ltd, Michinori Holdings Inc, Hitachi Ltd, Ibaraki University, and other organizations, announced that a demonstration test of MaaS will be started in Hitachi region (Ibaraki Prefecture) from February 2020.

This demonstration aims to improve the convenience of public transportation by introducing MaaS in rural areas where there is no substantial means of transportation like urban areas and where dependency on private cars is high, and to solve social problems in the region.

Specifically, the company will provide “commuting demand service,” which enables the designation of bus stops near home when commuting, as well as “last one mile-type demand service,” which uses a shared taxi between “Onuma BRT(Bus Rapid Transit)” bus stop and Onuma area.

These services can be booked using Hitachi City MaaS Project, a MaaS app developed using Navitime Japan’s technologies.

In FY2018, Hitachi BRT (*) conducted an automated bus operation demonstration project under the “Last One Mile Autonomous Driving Demonstration Project” sponsored by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. In FY2020, the company plans to conduct a demonstration test.

(*) Bus Rapid Transit(BRT): A bus system equipped with high-order functions that can be used by combining bus-dedicated roads, etc., to ensure express delivery and increase transportation capacity at the time of establishment.

Original Text: https://ampmedia.jp/2020/01/28/hitachi-2/