UD Trucks Autonomous Driving display panel (Photo by MarkLines at the Japan Mobility Show 2023)

  The ReVision Commercial Vehicle and Logistics Summit was held on February 29, 2024 at the Belle Salle Kudan Hall conference center in Tokyo, Japan. This report provides an overview of the presentation titled "Linking technology and logistics to implement autonomous driving trucks” given by Mr. Hiroshi Ogawa, Theme 3 Leader of the "RoAD to the L4" project and Technical Adviser at NEXTY Electronics Corporation.

  The "RoAD to the L4" Theme 3 is a project aiming for social implementation of Level 4 autonomous trucks on expressways from FY2026 onwards. A consortium of logistics companies and four heavy-duty truck manufacturers has been commissioned by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) for the initiative to implement this five-year project from FY2021 to FY2025.

  The project will not only realize this with vehicle technologies, but also develop the necessary business environment. Specifically, the plan is to establish multiple relay areas adjacent to expressways and have the vehicles drive autonomously between them. The plan is to start manned autonomous operations in FY2026, with the aim of achieving unmanned automated operations around FY2030. In the future, autonomous driving on general public roads will also be considered.

  Areas that need to be considered include "ensuring thorough safety" and "ensuring sustainable business viability." As for "ensuring thorough safety", there are cases where it is difficult to avoid risks only by technological development of vehicles due to the size, weight, and dynamic characteristics (performance and functional limits) of the vehicle, which are issues unique to heavy-duty commercial trucks. Therefore, the ODD (Operational Design Domain), which takes into account external support and institutional development such as infrastructure, is now being established. Regarding "ensuring sustainable business viability," commercial vehicles, as capital goods, must realize and sustain realistic business viability, and it is necessary to create an implementation scenario that minimizes costs (initial and operational).

Related Reports:
Japan Mobility Show 2023: Commercial Vehicles (Nov. 2023)
Japan Mobility Show 2023: The Value of AD and ADAS as Mobility (Nov. 2023)