The Subcommittee on Business Discussions on Autonomous Driving Technologies Compiles “Progress report on efforts to support the development of autonomous driving technologies and create adequate policies version 4.0 ”

1. Outline of the subcommittee

In February 2015, as a body with the goal of encouraging commercialization of autonomous driving under the framework of All-Japan initiatives by the industry, academia and government sectors, the subcommittee was inaugurated, bringing together the Director-General of the Road Transport Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) and the Director-General of the Manufacturing Industries Bureau of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) as organizers and representatives of automobile manufacturers and suppliers and experts as members.

2. Outline of the report

In FY2019, the subcommittee formulated a “Roadmap for Deployment of Autonomous Driving Services” in light of the situations of demonstration projects for such services at home and abroad and the goals that the public and private sectors have set for their commercialization.

This roadmap shows, in particular, specific approaches to Deployment of driverless Autonomous driving services between FY2020 to FY2025 and explains that companies will start driverless autonomous driving services operated only by remote monitoring in around FY2022 at the earliest possible time in limited areas, (e.g., abandoned railway facilities), and also that such services may expand to over 40 locations in around FY2025.

The roadmap also states that for achieving these goals, it is indispensable for Japan to hold discussions with input from a variety of fields, ranging from technical development, institutional systems and infrastructure to social acceptability and costs, and further states that stakeholders in the public and private sectors should share the roadmap to participate in tackling these efforts for achieving the goals.

In addition, the subcommittee studied and discussed efforts for sophistication of autonomous driving, e.g., demonstration tests and harmonization areas, and other issues.

Concerning demonstration tests, based on the Growth Strategy, the subcommittee focused on the FY2020 goals: achievement of driverless autonomous driving mobility services and of technologies for operating trucks in a caravan on expressways with systems for unmanned driving in the second and following trucks, and confirmed the steady progress in related efforts for achieving these goals.

Concerning efforts for harmonization areas and other issues, the subcommittee focused on the ten fields which stakeholders in the public and private sectors have chosen for collaborative efforts and have been advancing efforts involving these fields, and held discussions on the progress in the respective efforts and related policies. In particular, concerning safety assessments, the subcommittee held fruitful discussions (e.g., those on preparing a scenario explaining Japan’s traffic environments for expressways and submitting it as Japan’s proposal for new international standards to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in collaboration with other member countries).

The subcommittee compiled the results of such study and discussions into a report titled “Report on Efforts for Achieving Autonomous Driving and Policies Therefor Version 4.0.”

3. Release of the report

• Report on Efforts for Achieving Autonomous Driving and Policies Therefor Version 4.0 (in Japanese)

Note: See the top line of this webpage.

4. Reference

• Past meetings of the subcommittee (in Japanese)
• Progress report on efforts to support the development of autonomous driving technologies and create adequate policies version 4.0 (Summary) (PDF:533KB)

Division in Charge

ITS and Autonomous Driving Promotion Office, Automobile Division, Manufacturing Industries Bureau, METI