Demonstration experiment begins on runway inspection at Nanki Shirahama Airport using autonomous driving technology and AI

Nanki-Shirahama Airport,Inc. (Note 1 “Nanki Shirahama Airport”), Macnica (Note 2 “Macnica”), and NEC Corporation (Note 3 “NEC”) are operating the Nanki Shirahama Airport (Wakayama Prefecture). We will begin demonstration experiments on runways to automate runway inspections using autonomous driving technology and AI.

In this demonstration experiment, a drive recorder will be installed on the autonomous driving vehicle "macniCAR-01" (Note 4) (Photo 1) operated by Macnica, and the vehicle will drive within the airport's restricted area, including the runway. An AI developed by NEC analyzes images of the runway surface conditions taken with a drive recorder (Photo 2) and automatically detects cracks, damage, etc. on the road surface, making inspections that do not rely solely on human power using digital technology. Build a system.
Through demonstration experiments, we will accumulate knowledge and identify issues related to automated driving within airport restricted areas, and aim to realize level 4 autonomous driving (vehicle operation without a driver or security personnel) and smart maintenance at airports. We aim to improve operational efficiency by

■Background and purpose
In Japan, the future maintenance and management costs of social infrastructure are expected to increase (Note 5), and the continuous securing of labor and skilled technology is a common challenge for all infrastructure operators. I am.
Under these circumstances, with the goal of solving these issues, we have developed a project that utilizes drive recorders and AI, which won the 5th Infrastructure Maintenance Award (Note 6) and the 2022 Infrastructure Maintenance Project Award (Note 7). By combining "Airport Runway Investigation and Inspection" with autonomous driving technology, we can save labor through efficient airport operations, perform quantitative runway inspections that are not influenced by the technical ability of inspectors, and perform conventional post-mortem inspections. This demonstration experiment will be conducted with the aim of reducing maintenance and management costs through appropriate preventive maintenance of facilities instead of maintenance.
In the future, we aim to use it for smart maintenance such as "remote inspection" where autonomous driving vehicles drive automatically and remotely inspect video data.

*1 Nanki-Shirahama Airport,Inc. (Headquarters: Nishimuta-gun, Wakayama Prefecture, President: Shinichiro Okada)
*2 Macnica (Headquarters: Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture, President: Kazumasa Hara)
*3 NEC Corporation (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, Board Director, President and CEO: Takayuki Morita)
*4 The Tajima Giant, an ultra-compact mobility (EV) sold by Tajima Motor Corporation, is equipped with sensors for autonomous driving at Macnica and converted into a autonomous driving vehicle.
*5 Estimation of future maintenance and renewal costs of social capital in fields under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, November 30, 2011)
*6 Received the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Award at the 5th "Infrastructure Maintenance Awards" ~Investigation and inspection of airport runways using drive recorders~
　　　　http://shirahama-airport.jp/application/files/4216/3884/3690/20211207_infra-maintenance.pdf
*7 Received the "2022 Infrastructure Maintenance Project Award" (Japan Society of Civil Engineers) ~ Survey and inspection of airport runways using "drive recorder × AI" ~
　　　　http://shirahama-airport.jp/application/files/2616/7754/7734/2022.pdf