Latest news with #TransportandTourismMinistry
Yomiuri Shimbun
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Govt, Carmakers to Join Hands on Autonomous Cars With AI; New Technology Allows Greater Adaptability, Lower Cost
Yomiuri Shimbun file photo The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry building in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo Major Japanese automobile manufacturers are planning to jointly develop self-driving technology that uses generative AI, according to sources. The companies are expected to cooperate in developing such elements as the AI infrastructure and in the collection of driving data. The government will provide financial support. It is hoped that through this endeavor, Japan's public and private sectors will catch up with the United States and China in the development of self-driving cars. The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry and the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry were to submit a strategy plan at a meeting on Thursday. Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co. and other Japanese major carmakers are expected to decide by this summer the fields in which they will cooperate. This move to promote cooperation in both the public and private sectors reflects concern about the changes that generative AI has triggered in the development of self-driving technology. The 'conventional' self-driving technology that Japanese carmakers have developed so far enables automobiles to maneuver the steering wheel using geographical information and driving rules that they learned beforehand. This kind of technology needs time to have the cars learn about various situations on the road, and it cannot respond flexibly to unpredictable situations. It also requires high-precision 3D maps and expensive sensors. In contrast, cars with self-driving technology that uses generative AI can ascertain their situation and independently make judgements in any unpredictable situation, based on footage taken by the dashboard camera, which functions like human eyes. Such cars can be developed at a lower cost than conventional ones. U.S. carmaker Tesla has developed high-precision self-driving technology with generative AI, and Chinese makers are accelerating their development of such cars. Japanese makers have been cautious about developing such vehicles due to safety concerns. However, with AI-supported cars expected to become mainstream, the Japanese government decided to provide financial support and support cooperation among domestic automakers in developing the AI infrastructure and collecting driving data.
The Star
3 days ago
- Automotive
- The Star
Japan to introduce automated driving system for official govt vehicles
The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry building in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo. - Photo: The Yomiuri Shimbun file TOKYO: The government aims to introduce an automated driving system for vehicles used by national and local government officials for official duties, according to a draft strategy revealed Thursday (May 29) for the promotion of the digitisation of the automotive industry. With autonomous vehicles becoming more common, it has been pointed out that Japan is falling behind. The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry as well as the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry are working to promote the introduction of the vehicles through more public-private cooperation amid intensifying international competition. For that purpose, government procurement will be utilised. As vehicles used for official government duties often use specific routes, it is believed that those vehicles can be easily replaced with autonomous ones. In autumn, the government will begin conducting pilot tests, in which autonomous vehicles drive regular routes back and forth between the economy ministry building and the Diet Building. Test runs for autonomous trucks are currently underway on a section of the Shin-Tomei Expressway. Starting in or after fiscal 2026, the tests will be expanded to include general roads between logistic facilities and expressway exits and entrances. If automated driving is realized on general roads, it will create an environment in which such services as automated deliveries and joint deliveries to improve load efficiency will become easier. Efforts to share data across automakers will also be strengthened. In addition, the government aims to strengthen the resilience of supply chains. Learning from the Covid-19 pandemic, when a shortage of semiconductor chips led to factory operations being shut down, a system will be established to enable automakers to share information regarding the procurement status of the chips, among other things, starting this fiscal year. The government will also study ways to enhance the convenience of services such as ride-sharing services, in which individuals use their private vehicles to transport others for a fee, by linking the My Number identification system to vehicle information. - The Yomiuri Shimbun
Yomiuri Shimbun
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Japan to Introduce Automated Driving System for Official Govt Vehicles; Test Runs for Automated Govt Vehicles to Begin in Autumn
Yomiuri Shimbun file photo The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry building in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo The government aims to introduce an automated driving system for vehicles used by national and local government officials for official duties, according to a draft strategy revealed Thursday for the promotion of the digitization of the automotive industry. With autonomous vehicles becoming more common, it has been pointed out that Japan is falling behind. The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry as well as the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry are working to promote the introduction of the vehicles through more public-private cooperation amid intensifying international competition. For that purpose, government procurement will be utilized. As vehicles used for official government duties often use specific routes, it is believed that those vehicles can be easily replaced with autonomous ones. In autumn, the government will begin conducting pilot tests, in which autonomous vehicles drive regular routes back and forth between the economy ministry building and the Diet Building. Test runs for autonomous trucks are currently underway on a section of the Shin-Tomei Expressway. Starting in or after fiscal 2026, the tests will be expanded to include general roads between logistic facilities and expressway exits and entrances. If automated driving is realized on general roads, it will create an environment in which such services as automated deliveries and joint deliveries to improve load efficiency will become easier. Efforts to share data across automakers will also be strengthened. In addition, the government aims to strengthen the resilience of supply chains. Learning from the COVID-19 pandemic, when a shortage of semiconductor chips led to factory operations being shut down, a system will be established to enable automakers to share information regarding the procurement status of the chips, among other things, starting this fiscal year. The government will also study ways to enhance the convenience of services such as ride-sharing services, in which individuals use their private vehicles to transport others for a fee, by linking the My Number identification system to vehicle information.
Yomiuri Shimbun
21-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Japan Proposes Mutual Authentication of Auto Safety Standards to U.S.; Aims to Address ‘Non-Tariff' Barrier in Talks
The Yomiuri Shimbun Ryosei Akazawa, minister in charge of economic revitalization The government has proposed to the United States the creation of a framework of mutual authentication of automobile safety standards, in the lead-up to their next tariff negotiation meeting, Japanese government sources said Tuesday. The proposal is aimed at addressing something which the U.S. government insists a 'non-tariff trade barrier' for exports of U.S.-made automobiles to Japan. The third ministerial-level negotiation meeting will likely be held on Friday in Washington. Japan's focus will be on lowering the U.S. tariff on car exports. As automobile safety standards are different between Japan and the United States. U.S. automakers currently have to obtain Japanese-type approvals when they export U.S.-made automobiles to Japan. Japan and the United States are considering whether it is possible for both to reexamine their rules on automobile safety standards and, if both counties' rules are similar enough, whether checks can be skipped. The Japanese side is strongly demanding that Washington abolish its recently imposed 25% additional tariff on Japan's automobile exports. During the tariff negotiations to date, the U.S. side has not acceded to such demands. By value, automobiles account for about 30% of Japan's exports to the country. The U.S. government has demanded that Japan abolish its 'non-tariff trade barriers' as a condition for reexamining the automobile tariff. The Japanese government is seeking to use its proposal of a mutual authentication of automobile safety checks as a bargaining chip in the negotiations. In 2016, during the Japan-U.S. automobile trade talks in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations, the two sides confirmed that results of U.S. performance checks in seven kinds of tests, including one over rear-view mirrors, could be used in Japan's authentication procedures. Subhead: Working-level negotiations In the run-up to the ministerial talks, the Japanese and U.S. governments began working-level negotiations in Washington on Monday. Officials of the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry, which is in charge of automobile safety standards, participated in the working-level talks alongside those from the Foreign Ministry and the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry, which had both taken part in past meetings. Economic revitalization minister Ryosei Akazawa is scheduled to depart for the ministerial-level negotiation meeting in the United States on Friday. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba met with Akazawa on Tuesday at the Prime Minister's Office. 'Our stance of strongly demanding the United States review the series of tariff measures has not changed,' Akazawa told reporters at a press conference. To date, the Japanese government has presented increasing imports of corn and cooperation in the field of shipbuilding as bargaining chips. Through presenting such options, the Japanese government aims to win concessions from the U.S. government.
Yomiuri Shimbun
06-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Concerns Raised Over Potential Concessions on Auto Safety Standards; Experts Point Out Danger of Increased Fatalities
The Yomiuri Shimbun Cars are seen at a port in Kawasaki. There are concerns that if Japan accepts vehicles designed in accordance with the safety standards of the United States, as proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, who considers Japan's current standards to be non-tariff barriers, pedestrian safety could be compromised. Many of Japan's automobile safety standards were formulated based on lessons learned from past accidents and have been incorporated into global standards set by the United Nations. 'Unlike U.N. standards, which are used by Japan and European countries, pedestrian safety is not a factor in U.S. vehicle standards,' a senior official of the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry said. Trump has particularly been keen on attacking Japan's standard to protect the heads of pedestrians, which he has referred to on social media as Japan's 'bowling ball' test. The U.S. president claims that in Japan, a bowling ball is dropped on the hood of a car and if the hood is dented, the car fails the inspection. However, the actual test involves hitting the car with a hemispherical device — standing in for the head of an adult or a child — at a speed of 35 kph and measuring the impact. Its aim is to ensure the hood and other parts are sufficiently yielding to protect the heads of pedestrians. In Japan, where roads are often narrow, making it difficult for pedestrians and cars to keep distance from each other, the proportion of accidents resulting in pedestrian fatalities is high. For this reason, the transport ministry added the hemisphere test to safety standards in 2004, saying that it was 'expected to reduce traffic fatalities by up to 100 per year.' Following Japan's lead, the test was also incorporated into the U.N. vehicle standards. In the United States, where road conditions differ from those of Japan and people on foot are more separated from traffic, such pedestrian protection standards do not exist. So Trump's requests for Japan to loosen its safety standards seem to be based on a lack of understanding of the different conditions in the two countries. The U.N. standards are a set of environmental and safety rules for vehicles established through discussions between government agencies, industry groups and other bodies at the United Nations World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations. The standards include 43 categories of regulations for passenger vehicles, including ones for brakes, speedometers and noise levels. Japan has adopted all of them, but the United States has only adopted three categories, such as those for metal door fittings. If an automaker obtains approval for a type of vehicle in Japan under the U.N. standards, it can obtain certification in about 60 countries that have also adopted the U.N. standards, including Britain, Germany, France, South Korea and Thailand, without undergoing similar tests. Blind-spot accidents There are other safety standards that do not exist in the United States. In Japan, there is a regulation for passenger vehicles that a 1-meter tall, 30-centimeter wide round pillar — about the size of a six-year-old child — placed in front of or to the side of the vehicle must be visible from the driver's seat. A rule added in 2003 requires that, in cases where a vehicle's height or hood blocks direct view of the pillar, auxiliary mirrors be installed to make it visible. The regulation was introduced in response to a series of accidents involving children being hit by cars due to being in their blind spots, at a time when sport utility vehicles were becoming highly popular. This rule, too, has been incorporated into the U.N. standards. Relaxing this regulation could lead to more accidents involving children. Led by Japan, the installation of automatic braking systems, which detect pedestrians and vehicles in the car's path and act to mitigate collision damage, was also adopted as part of U.N. safety standards. Japan took the initiative on creating this rule following a series of accidents, including one that killed or injured 11 people in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district in April 2019. 'Japan's safety standards reflect a history of not just letting these tragic accidents be for nothing, but improving the safety of pedestrians step by step in line with road conditions,' said Juri Ozawa, head of an association of bereaved families of traffic-accident victims. 'We hope the government will not compromise on the safety and security of its own citizens,' added Ozawa. Rollover safety There is one category of vehicle safety regulation that exists in the United States but is not part of Japanese and global standards: measures to protect passengers when a vehicle turns over. In Japan, it is rare for cars to veer off the road and roll over, as high-strength guardrails are installed on expressways. Thus measures against rollovers are not included in the country's vehicle safety standards. On the other hand, many highways in the United States, especially in rural regions, lack guardrails, so it is not uncommon for vehicles to veer off of roads and roll over. Therefore, to protect drivers and passengers, tests to verify the impact resistance of vehicle roofs have been introduced. When exporting Japanese vehicles to the United States, automakers must pass tests in accordance with U.S. standards. Experts point out that if Japan gives preferential treatment to the United States on safety measures, China, which also has a unique set of standards, may demand the same treatment.
