Nissan announced on Wednesday that it will begin offering self-driving taxis in Japan in the fiscal year that begins in April 2027.
The company announced that it will start testing the commercial service in April of the next fiscal year in a part of Yokohama that is south of Tokyo utilising minivans.
“Local communities have been facing several mobility challenges, such as driver shortages, which are a result of an ageing population,” Nissan said in a statement.
In order to “provide a broad range of new services that enable free movement,” it intends to collaborate on the project with local government agencies and transit providers.
Although Japan is by no means the only country with autonomous cars on the road, its government has made it a top priority to advance the technology in light of employment shortages and an ageing population that need transportation.
Road traffic laws have permitted “Level 4” self-driving cars to operate on public roads under specific conditions since last year. On a scale of 0 to 5, vehicle autonomy is ranked, with 5 denoting nearly complete autonomy.
Nissan says it has been “testing business models for self-driving mobility services in Japan and abroad since 2017”.
The US automaker General Motors, rival Honda, and GM’s autonomous driving subsidiary Cruise said last year that they would form a joint venture to launch a driverless ride service in Japan in early 2026.
A Toyota representative told AFP that the company also has a planned driverless car test project in Tokyo’s Odaiba neighbourhood starting in July.
According to a story this month in the Yomiuri newspaper, Toyota intends to introduce a paid service starting in 2025 and spread it to other central Tokyo districts. This will likely be Japan’s first automated driving service on public highways alongside other vehicles.
“We are working with related stakeholders to discuss various aspects of future automated driving (including the level of automated driving), but details have not yet been finalised,” the spokesman said.
AFP
