Robot Taxi car (Photo : News Fiber)
Robot Taxi announced on October 1, Thursday that the company and Japan's government will launch tests of autonomous vehicles that carry human passengers on public roads, in 2016. The country hopes to showcase the for-hire self-driving taxicab cars when it hosts the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.
Next year's trial will first serve around 50 residents in the Kanagawa region. The Wall Street Journal reported that the driverless cabs will transport them from their houses and apartments to grocery stores.
Robot Taxi's cabs are actually retro versions of Toyota Estimas. The hybrid minivans' trips, which will partly include major city roads, will be around two miles (1.6 kilometers). Two co-pilots will participate in the test drives in case of emergency situations, according to PC Mag.
Robot Taxi has not announced how many cars will be deployed during the testing phase of the autonomous cars. However, it hopes to launch a commercial service in five years, in time to host the 2020 Summer Games.
Shinjiro Koizumi is a parliamentary vice minister in the cabinet office. He said in a briefing on Thursday that the way of doing business in Japan must change and instead promote free market competition, according to Bloomberg.
The project is a joint venture of the vehicle tech firm ZMP and mobile Web company DeNA. Its autonomous cars function as a "personal driver."
The robotic taxicab company hopes the unmanned vehicles will provide service to both locals and foreigners. For example, it will transport people to areas not on bus or train routes.
Japan's senior citizens make up one-fourth of the country's total population. Experts believe that figure will skyrocket to 40 percent during the next four decades.
Seniors could benefit from Robot Taxi, and tech giants such as IBM and Apple are also teaming up with Japanese organizations to provide tech support. It includes iPad apps with alerts for diet, exercise, and medication.
