(1) Creation of new business models that support sustainable transportation services

Under the conventional business model, where the main source of income is bus fares, about 90% of local bus routes are in the red ^{* 1}, and a large amount of subsidies are used to maintain the routes. Based on this reality, "HICity" plans and promotes a "fare-free model" from the concept stage of introducing autonomous driving buses, and operates autonomous driving buses free of charge. In the "Fare Elimination Model", fare-free autonomous driving buses circulate at a high frequency, supporting the movement of people and revitalizing the operating area, revitalizing commerce within the operating area, maintaining land prices, Cross-sectoral effects such as deterrence of population decline will be generated, and the value of transportation services will be improved. Based on this "Fare Elimination Model", the operation cost of the autonomous driving bus in "HICity" is positioned as the facility operation cost necessary for "HICity" in the same way as the operation of the elevator.

(2) Construction of an operation system for autonomous driving buses that does not require operator intervention

With the aim of realizing autonomous driving unmanned bus operation in limited areas by FY2022, HICity has been working on upgrading autonomous driving and establishing a remote monitoring system. autonomous driving The upgrading of autonomous driving refers to the expansion of situations where automatic operation is possible by updating software and changing settings without changing hardware such as sensors.

With HICity, we were able to confirm that there were no dangers while driving through stable operation for a certain period of time. We have automated the operation of the department. In addition, at first autonomous driving the operator inside the car performed the departure operation according to the timetable and the stop / departure operation in the event of an emergency. By implementing it, we have made it possible to automatically depart according to the timetable, and to perform emergency stop and departure operations from a remote location.

Automated resumption of driving after a temporary stop (from July 2021)

At the beginning of operation, when resuming running after a temporary stop at the stop line, the operator inside the car confirmed the safety of the surroundings and then operated the departure operation on the touch panel inside the car. After that, the area where it is necessary to confirm that there are no pedestrians or other vehicles entering is set as a "priority zone" in order to resume driving safely. After confirming, we implemented a function to automatically resume driving.

Automation of operation according to the timetable (from August 2021)

At the beginning of the operation, the operator inside the car operated the departure operation when departing the bus stop, but we implemented a function to automatically depart the bus stop according to the timetable registered in "Dispatcher".

Emergency stop/departure operation from a remote location (from September 2021)

Assuming that the operator inside the train is unable to operate the vehicle due to a sudden illness, etc., or that manual operation is required in the event of an emergency such as a disaster in unmanned operation in the future, the vehicle can be stopped in an emergency by using the "Dispatcher" from a remote location. Implemented a function that allows the departure operation.

*1 Source: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, “Income and Expenditure Status of General Bus Business (30 or More Vehicles Owned) in 2019”
*2 Exceeding the speed limit (8km/h) for general vehicles in "HICity" is specifically permitted.
●Dispatcher is a trademark of BOLDLY Inc.