Navya’s Autonom Shuttles to Operate on Open Road in Japan

By Hassan Soukar On Jul 7, 2019

In collaboration with SB Drive Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of SoftBank Corp., and thanks to the hard work with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Navya launches its first Japanese demonstration on the open road of its AUTONOM® SHUTTLE.

This is the very first time Japan give its approval to an automated vehicle with neither a steering wheel or pedals to ride on public streets opening de facto a new registration of vehicles. For legal reasons, a safety driver will remain inside the car, but its mission is limited to monitoring the experimentation and intervene in case of an emergency.

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Japan joins the long list of the 19 countries which gave approvals to operate automated vehicles on the open road. Among them FTSA (Finland), LTA (Singapore), MDDI (Luxembourg), MFK (Liechtenstein), MTES (France), NTC (Australia), OFROU (Switzerland), RDW (the Netherlands), SAAQ (Canada), SPF M&T (Belgium), STA (Sweden), TÜV Austria (Austria), TÜV Hessen & Rheinland (Germany).

“Thanks to the Japanese government’s enthusiasm for automated vehicle technology and the great work achieved with our partner SB Drive Co. since 2017, we’re very proud to obtain the very 1st approval for an automated vehicle to operate on open road in Japan and proves that Navya and its partners are committed to making its smart mobility solutions readily available to customers with the safest possible service,” said Navya CEO Etienne Hermite