Osaka

Osaka City Bus Corp. held a test-ride event for a self-driving bus for media in the western Japan city of Osaka on Monday.

The affiliate of subway operator Osaka Metro Co. aims to start autonomous bus services within fiscal 2020, which ends in March 2021, in the bay area of the city. A French-made Navya Arma autonomous bus was used in the test.

For manual driving, a controller is used, as the Arma has no steering wheel. A staff member would push an emergency brake button when the vehicle meets an obstacle and needs to stop.

Osaka City Bus plans to carry out an autonomous bus test from Dec. 23 to Jan. 19., 2020, using a revamped Poncho of Hino Motors Ltd. Through the test, the company aims to identify problems and boost the quality of its planned self-driving bus service.

The firm is also considering introducing self-driving buses during the 2025 World Exposition, to be held on Yumeshima, an artificial island in the city, the capital of Osaka Prefecture.

Jiji Press