autonomous driving attracts attention, but full-scale implementation is still ahead?

──First of all, please tell us about the general situation. Why is autonomous driving needed in society?

Fukuda: There are various reasons, but one is securing a means of transportation. In Japan, the number of public transportation systems is decreasing due to the decrease in bus drivers accompanying the aging society. In urban areas, the impact is not yet felt so much, but in rural areas it is not uncommon for the number of buses to run once an hour.

In addition, due to the aging of license holders in recent years, more and more elderly people are returning their licenses to avoid the risk of accidents, and we recognize that securing means of transportation is an urgent issue.

Therefore, there is a need for "autonomous driving" that can support people's movement without a driver in the future.

A survey conducted by Macnica in 2022 targeting local governments across Japan received responses from over 500 local governments.
When asked, ``What are the transportation issues in your area?'', the most common response was ``lack of transportation convenience.''

autonomous driving also has the advantage of adding value to travel. For example, busy roads can be boring and unproductive for many people. In such cases, if autonomous driving are available, drivers will be able to read books, look at their smartphones, have meetings, and use their time effectively to enrich their lives.

Furthermore, if it is something like a autonomous driving bus in the city, it will not only simply support movement, but by combining it with new technologies such as VR (virtual reality), it will improve the user's experience value and improve the city. We believe that we can expect an increase in the number of visitors by increasing the attractiveness of the site.

──In January 2023, Macnica also conducted a demonstration experiment to use autonomous driving for tourism in Minato Mirai.

Fukuda: Yes. This case is a demonstration experiment for adding value to movement. In the Yokohama Minato Mirai park, we provided not only autonomous driving as a means of transportation, but also as a sightseeing experience where you can see the scenery and surrounding sightseeing information at the same time through smart glasses in the car while moving.

* Click image to display (in another window)

Macnica is focusing on increasing the added value of transportation while monitoring the current state of public transportation.

Fukuda: Of course, needs differ depending on the location, but Macnica is working on both approaches. Particularly in sparsely populated areas, urgent measures are required to secure means of transportation before providing added value.

──Is the implementation of autonomous driving progressing smoothly from a global perspective?

Fukuda: I don't think we've made much progress yet. Among them, China is advancing, followed by the United States, Europe, and Japan. However, even in China, the places where autonomous driving is used are still limited.

autonomous driving is expected to be driverless in the future, but at present most operations involve human intervention with a safety driver on board. In order to realize autonomous driving, it is necessary to ensure safety to prevent accidents.

Macnica and GAUSSIN teamed up through support from NAVYA

──From now on, we will mainly ask about Macnica 's partners GAUSSIN and NAVYA. First, please tell us what kind of companies each is.

Fukuda:GAUSSIN is a company that develops, manufactures, sells, and maintains vehicles for transporting large cargo. For example, we provide working vehicles such as AGVs (Automated Guided Vehicles) for transporting freight containers weighing dozens of tons, which are used at airports and ports. Major customers include Amazon and UPS (*1), which have huge warehouses.

* 1: United Parcel Service. United States freight forwarding company.

In addition, NAVYA is a company that mainly develops software for autonomous driving vehicles to transport people in limited places and short distances. We also provide small bus vehicles, but our main focus is software development.

Small bus "ARMA"provided byNAVYA

── Macnica established GAUSSIN and Gaussin Macnica Mobility and took over the assets of NAVYA. How did that happen and what was your purpose?

Fukuda: When we aimed to provide autonomous driving and new mobility services that would be needed around the world in the future, we absolutely needed a partner company with excellent technology. In addition, we believe that it is extremely important to contribute to solving social issues by utilizing NAVYA 's technology, which has the highest market share globally, so Macnica began handling NAVYA as a general agent in Japan in 2019. Ta.

However, as the global outbreak of infectious diseases began to impede the movement of people, all mobility startups faced difficult operating conditions. Macnica has decided to support the business of its partner NAVYA.

Since NAVYA is a French company, it would be difficult for Macnica to operate it alone, and in order to continue providing services to customers who use NAVYA vehicles, it would be necessary to continue as an agent. That was enough. Therefore, Macnica decided to partner with another company to support the operation of NAVYA, and GAUSSIN came forward at that time.

Christophe Gaussin / CEO of Gaussin SA (left),
Jean-Claude Bailly / CEO of Gaussin Macnica Mobility (pictured),
Kazumasa Hara / Macnica President Co-CEO (right)

In the freight transportation industry, which is GAUSSIN 's main business domain, demand for robotization (automation) is increasing from major customers, but there are still many technical challenges to realize. In addition, autonomous driving require implementation work and operational operations to ensure that they can run properly on site, and it is essential to provide thorough support that quickly resolves various problems that arise during the process.

NAVYA has great strength in that respect. Therefore, GAUSSIN decided to support NAVYA in order to acquire NAVYA 's autonomous driving technology and implementation know-how and create business synergies that can provide solutions for both private land such as airports and ports and public roads.

On the other hand, Macnica, as a support partner for NAVYA, placed great importance on synergy with itself, and GAUSSIN fit perfectly into that.

──What kind of synergy do you think there is between Macnica and GAUSSIN?

Fukuda: I think that the increase in the lineup of solutions and the development and provision of autonomous driving vehicles is a major factor.

Macnica will be able to exploit GAUSSIN 's strengths, such as airports and ports, and conversely, GAUSSIN will be able to exploit public roads, which Macnica and NAVYA specialize in. Until now, GAUSSIN 's activities have been mainly in Europe, but if we start transporting cargo in Japan and Asia, for example, I think our business opportunities will increase significantly.

In addition, a management system is required to control many cargo transport vehicles at once, but it is possible to incorporate a system from Aptopod, a company with which Macnica works.

──Are there any specific initiatives in progress?

Fukuda: First of all, from the perspective of Macnica and GAUSSIN, we have started market research on the products that GAUSSIN is developing, and we have started a project to automate GAUSSIN solutions.

On the other hand, Gaussin Macnica Mobility, which was established in France, is promoting three main initiatives.

The first is to continue popularizing the autonomous driving vehicles "ARMA" and "EVO" provided by NAVYA.

The second is automation of transportation vehicles such as large and small tractors used at airports and ports. Small tractor automation is something that NAVYA was originally working on.

The third is the development of a level 4 autonomous driving platform using a 6m bus.

Aiming to develop from MaaS to smart cities

──Please tell us about your future prospects.

Fukuda: First, in order to expand the number of NAVYA products that can run on public roads, our goal is to increase the number of municipalities that want to implement autonomous driving and the number of vehicles that implement it. In addition, a new platform is scheduled to appear by around 2025, so by creating a cycle of increasing the number of implementations and replacing it again in a few years, we will be able to realize level 4 autonomous driving anywhere.

However, increasing the implementation of autonomous driving is not our only mission. It is true that the world will be more convenient if this is realized, but I think it will be important to create new mobility services and connect them with other transportation services. So-called "MaaS (*2)".

* 2: Mobility as a Service. A system that utilizes IT to enable efficient use of all means of transportation, such as trains, buses, and taxis.

Today, DX is progressing in various fields such as medicine, healthcare, and agriculture. With the addition of MaaS, new services will be created by connecting data with other industries, increasing convenience, and realizing smart cities that enrich our lives.

Energy is also attracting attention these days. A typical example is the switch from gasoline to electricity. And when EVs (electric vehicles) become mainstream, there will be a need for places where they can be charged and mechanisms to cover power consumption with renewable energy. We recognize that it is a high level.

On the other hand, I have some ideas for companies. For example, in the manufacturing industry, full automation of factories is progressing, and by introducing GAUSSIN 's large vehicles and NAVYA 's system that can transport cargo most efficiently at a designated time and place, work efficiency will be improved. I can. There should be a wide range of business opportunities, including smart cities, in Asian countries alone.

──You mentioned that the progress of autonomous driving in the United States, Europe, and Japan is almost the same.

Fukuda: That's right. For example, even if you make a right turn at a traffic light, the handling of autonomous driving is still not perfect. When we drive ourselves, we run while predicting that "people might jump out", so we can respond to unexpected situations to some extent. However, this is not the case with autonomous driving, so I think that is an issue.

Accidents may be reduced by installing cameras everywhere in the vehicle so that it can be viewed in 360 degrees, and by operating AI at full capacity. However, doing so increases the number of parts required, consumes a huge amount of power, and causes physical problems such as the battery running out after just a short run. This is also a difficult question.

Recently, various countries are proceeding with various measures, including legal development, through trial and error, such as attaching smart poles (* 3) to the car body and inputting information to the car that "people are coming".

*3: A next-generation urban infrastructure equipped with functions such as 5G antennas, high-speed Wi-Fi communication, and visualization of the urban environment using people-counting cameras and environmental sensors (reference: Tokyo Metropolitan Government Digital Service Bureau).

──Different countries have different cultures and traffic rules.

Fukuda: That's right. So it's extremely complicated, but the implementation is progressing little by little. In Japan, the ban on autonomous driving level 4 has been lifted, and I think the demand is increasing, and the number of inquiries from customers is actually increasing.

There are very high hurdles to wide-ranging realization of autonomous driving and smart cities, but I would like to continue to take on challenges while leveraging the strengths of GAUSSIN and NAVYA.

Summary

autonomous driving are difficult to implement due to their high degree of sophistication, and it seems that it will be some time before we can use them. However, it is clear that it is required to solve social issues such as the shortage of drivers, and there are many expectations.

Macnica will continue to work with its partners, GAUSSIN and NAVYA, who have excellent technology and development capabilities, to create a society that is easy to live in, centered on the Mobility & Smart City Division.

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