Launch of Public Road Demonstration Tests of Autonomous Driving Technology Utilizing Heavy-duty Trucks on the Shin-Tomei Expressway
Toyota Tsusho Corporation
Advanced Smart Mobility Co., Ltd.
Nippon Koei Co., Ltd.
Mizuho Research & Technologies, Ltd.
Isuzu Motors Limited
Hino Motors, Ltd.
Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation
UD Trucks Corporation
Launch of Public Road Demonstration Tests of Autonomous Driving Technology Utilizing Heavy-duty Trucks on the Shin-Tomei Expressway
Toyota Tsusho Corporation (“Toyota Tsusho”), Advanced Smart Mobility Co., Ltd. (“Advanced Smart Mobility”), Nippon Koei Co., Ltd. (“Nippon Koei”), and Mizuho Research & Technologies, Ltd. (“Mizuho Research & Technologies”) have been contracted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Tourism (MLIT) in fiscal 2021 to perform the “Efforts to commercialize high-performance trucks on expressways (Theme 3)”*1 of the “Project on Research, Development, Demonstration and Deployment (RDD&D) of Automated Driving toward the Level 4*2 and its Enhanced Mobility Services (RoAD to the L4).” In addition, most recently, the four companies have been working toward the social implementation of Level 4 autonomous driving trucks, including being selected as Demonstration Experiment of Autonomous Driving Truck by Roadside-to-Vehicle Coordination on Expressway.”*3
The above four companies, along with four commercial vehicle manufacturers - Isuzu Motors Limited (“Isuzu”), Hino Motors, Ltd. (“Hino”), Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (“MFTBC”), and UD Trucks Corporation (“UD Trucks”) announced today that the commencement of driving tests using heavy-duty trucks with automated driving technology on the Shin-Tomei Expressway.
- 1Background and Purposes of Project
- 2Overview of Demonstration Tests
- 3Future Initiatives
- 4Roles of Each Company
- *1Four initiatives (Themes 1 to 4) have been established for the realization and spread of driverless autonomous driving services, and the “Initiative Toward the Commercialization of High-performance Trucks on Expressways (Theme 3)” is one of them.
(Reference) Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry:
https://www.meti.go.jp/policy/mono_info_service/mono/automobile/Automated-driving/automated-driving.html - *2 Level 4 autonomous driving is defined as a state in which the autonomous driving device replaces all driving operations in a limited area that meets specific driving environment conditions.
(Reference) Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism:
https://www.mlit.go.jp/report/press/content/001377364.pdf - *3Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism:
https://www.mlit.go.jp/report/press/road01_hh_001845.html - *4Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism:
https://www.mlit.go.jp/report/press/jidosha07_hh_000362.html - *5Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) is an infrastructure for providing traffic information using information and communication devices installed on roads, enabling drivers to receive real-time traffic information and safety information.
- *6Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry:
https://www.meti.go.jp/policy/mono_info_service/digital_architecture/lifeline.html
To solve social issues such as driver shortages, the four companies, which are the contractors for this project, together with the four manufacturers, logistics companies, and other related parties, are aiming for the social implementation of autonomous driving trucks on expressway from fiscal 2026 onward through a joint public-private effort. To date, METI and MLIT have conducted “Demonstrations for Social Implementation of Truck Platooning”*4 (fiscal 2016-2020), which has demonstrated technology for truck platooning without drivers in the following vehicles.
The ongoing initiative, which is running from fiscal 2021 to fiscal 2025, aims to achieve independent driverless driving between relay areas such as logistics facilities, service areas, and parking areas around expressways and verifies support from external infrastructure equipment, operations such as monitoring and management, and vehicle functions necessary for such operations.
[Driving concept for future autonomous driving trucks]
In these demonstration tests, we will separately confirm and verify the multiple functions that are necessary for the social implementation of autonomous driving between the Surugawan-Numazu service area and the Hamamatsu service area on the Shin-Tomei Expressway.
Specifically, we will confirm and verify the automatic departure/arrival system that automatically starts and parks the vehicle at departure and arrival points, the braking function to stop the vehicle in case of emergency, the usefulness of information on broken-down vehicles and fallen objects transmitted from roadside equipment such as ITS spots*5 installed around the road, and remote monitoring functions while driving.
Based on the evaluation results of these demonstration tests, in fiscal 2025, the final year of the project, we plan to verify the process from vehicle departure at a service area to merging and changing lanes on the main line and parking at the destination under conditions closer to those of actual driving.
In addition, we plan to conduct demonstration experiments utilizing priority lanes for autonomous driving vehicles, which is one of the Early Harvest Projects “Setting up CAV(Connected Autonomous Vehicles) corridors”*6 under the “Digital Lifeline Development Plan” led by METI.
| Toyota Tsusho | Project promotion, overall planning management |
|---|---|
| Advanced Smart Mobility | Vehicle system development, evaluation testing |
| Nippon Koei | Demonstration experiment operation |
| Mizuho Research & Technologies | Examination of highly useful business models in logistics systems utilizing Level 4 autonomous driving trucks, business feasibility analysis, etc. |
| Isuzu | Organization and evaluation of driving environment/conditions, planning of demonstration experiments |
| Hino | |
| MFTBC | |
| UD Trucks |
Reference: Overview of Each Company
Overview of Toyota Tsusho
| Company name | Toyota Tsusho Corporation |
|---|---|
| Location | Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture |
| Established | July 1, 1948 |
| Capital | 64,936 million yen |
| Representative | President & CEO Ichiro Kashitani |
| Business description | Domestic and international trade of goods / Export and import of goods / Construction undertaking / Insurance agents, among others |
| Website | https://www.toyota-tsusho.com/english/ |
Overview of Advanced Smart Mobility
| Company name | Advanced Smart Mobility Co., Ltd. |
|---|---|
| Location | Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture |
| Established | June 19, 2014 |
| Capital | 95 million yen |
| Representative | CEO Masaya Segawa, Ph. D. |
| Business description | Development, manufacture and sale of autonomous driving system / Support of operation autonomous driving mobilities / Development hardware and software for the autonomous driving |
| Website | https://www.as-mobi.com/en/ |
Overview of Nippon Koei Co., Ltd.
| Company name | Nippon Koei Co., Ltd. |
|---|---|
| Location | Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo |
| Established | June 7, 1946 |
| Capital | 500 million yen |
| Representative | Representative Director and President Haruhiko Kanai |
| Business description | Construction technology consulting services in Japan and overseas |
| Website | https://www.n-koei.co.jp/consulting/english/ |
Overview of Mizuho Research & Technologies
| Company name | Mizuho Research & Technologies, Ltd. |
|---|---|
| Location | Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo |
| Established | April 1, 2021 |
| Capital | 1,627.5 million yen |
| Representative | President & CEO(Representative Director) Masatoshi Yoshihara |
| Business description | Information processing services, think tank consulting services |
| Website | https://www.mizuhogroup.com/ information-and-research |
Overview of Isuzu
| Company name | Isuzu Motors Limited |
|---|---|
| Location | Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture |
| Established | April 9, 1937 |
| Capital | 40,644 million yen |
| Representative | President and Representative Director, COO Shinsuke Minami |
| Business description | Manufacturing and sale of products such as automobiles, transportation machinery and equipment, prime movers, etc. and their parts, as well as related materials and supplies |
| Website | https://www.isuzu.co.jp/world/ |
Overview of Hino
| Company name | Hino Motors, Ltd. |
|---|---|
| Location | Hino City, Tokyo |
| Established | May 1, 1942 |
| Capital | 72,717 million yen |
| Representative | President & CEO Satoshi Ogiso |
| Business description | Manufacturing and sales of trucks, buses, etc. |
| Website | https://www.hino-global.com/ |
Overview of MFTBC
| Company name | Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation |
|---|---|
| Location | Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture |
| Established | January 6, 2003 |
| Capital | 35,000 million yen |
| Representative | President & CEO Karl Deppen |
| Business description | Development, design, manufacturing, sales/purchases, import/export, and other trading of trucks, buses, industrial engines, etc. |
| Website | https://www.mitsubishi-fuso.com/en/ |
Overview of UD Trucks
| Company name | UD Trucks Corporation |
|---|---|
| Location | Ageo City, Saitama Prefecture |
| Established | December 1, 1935 |
| Capital | 10,000 million yen |
| Representative | President Kouji Maruyama |
| Business description | Development, manufacturing, and sales of heavy-duty trucks, sales of medium-duty and light-duty trucks, manufacturing and sales of automotive parts, maintenance of trucks and buses, sales of repair parts for trucks and buses |
| Website | https://www.udtrucks.com/ |
