Navya to operate autonomous shuttles in Japan

Navya is to deploy autonomous electric shuttles in the Japanese city of Sakai in April.

By Ben Spencer February 24, 2020 Read time: 1 min

Left to right: Henri Coron (Navya chief business development officer), Atsushi Sato (Macnica president), Masahiro Hashimoto (Sakai Mayor), Yuki SAJI - SB Drive (president). Source: Navya

The company says this is to address a shortage of bus and taxi drivers.

Henri Coron, chief business development officer at Navya, says deployment comes only six months after obtaining permission to operate on public roads in Japan and is part of an agreement with Softbank subsidiary SB Drive.

Navya says the city will use SB Drive’s fleet management system to remotely monitor the Autonom shuttles. The vehicles will be operated by digital solutions group Macnica on routes that connect medical facilities, post offices, schools and banks.

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