Focus on autonomous driving: Nissan moves towards commercial robotic taxi services

Reference News Network reported on December 15 that Nissan recently conducted the largest self-driving car demonstration to date in an area south of Tokyo, and the automaker is moving towards launching a commercial robot taxi service.

While the need for rules and regulations and further technical improvements means it will take years to fully launch, Nissan has been testing its self-driving taxi service in Yokohama, near its corporate headquarters. Passengers can book a ride through a smartphone app that covers about 650 routes and can get on and off from 23 points in the city.

Currently, self-driving taxis will have operators ready to take over at all times, in case the car's different sensors encounter a situation that requires human assistance. The goal is for these "safe drivers" to remotely monitor a fleet of robo-taxis. In this way, Nissan says, saving money on driver fees could result in lower fares than traditional taxis.

The robo-taxi service is part of Nissan's Vision 2030 strategy announced earlier this week. The plan also includes equipping more than 2.5 million cars with ProPilot semi-autonomous driving systems and spending about 2 trillion yen ($17.7 billion) to electrify more cars.

The automaker also envisions using a robo-taxi service to address the shortage of public transit drivers. With the rapid aging and decline of Japan's population, the inability of the elderly to move around has become a growing social problem, especially in rural areas. Nissan has been testing a similar self-driving model in Langjiang, Fukushima Prefecture. The River was damaged and evacuated in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Toshi Watanabe, nissan's business partner development manager, said the robo-taxi service has so far been popular among test passengers, who made 38 reservations in Yokohama during the last 29 days of testing. Other users, he said, believe they're still doing a better job of avoiding traffic jams.

Watanabe said that "the autonomous driving of cars is still a bit shocking," especially for elderly passengers. But he said that after sitting a few times, the passengers clearly began to relax. He also said the car's cameras even captured people starting to read the newspaper or browse their smartphones on their second or third rides. (Compilation /Xu Yanhong)