Minamisatsuma City, Macnica, and NTT West Japan Kagoshima Branch Sign Comprehensive Partnership Agreement on "Regional Revitalization through autonomous driving" through Public-Private Partnership

Minamisatsuma City (Mayor: Motobo Teruo), Macnica (Representative Director and President: Hara Kazumasa), and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone West Corporation Kagoshima Branch (Branch Manager: Ihara Koji, hereinafter referred to as NTT West) signed a Comprehensive Cooperation Agreement on Regional Revitalization through autonomous driving in Minamisatsuma City on Sunday, May 5, 2024.
Through this collaboration agreement, the three parties will promote efforts to resolve local issues in Minamisatsuma City, such as "maintaining and ensuring sustainable public transportation" and "ensuring transportation for tourism."

1. Purpose of the Collaboration Agreement
Social issues such as maintaining regional transportation and a shortage of drivers for transportation are becoming more serious due to labor shortages caused by the declining birthrate and aging population, as well as the 2024 problem. To solve these social issues, there is an urgent need to realize sustainable public transportation and logistics using mobility technologies such as autonomous driving.

Minamisatsuma City is striving to maintain and secure a transportation system that is convenient for its residents, but the aging of the workforce and shortage of workers is becoming a serious problem even among community bus operators, making it difficult to maintain the system. In response to changes in social structure due to population decline and an aging population with a low birthrate, major issues such as "maintaining and securing sustainable public transportation" and "ensuring transportation for tourists" have become necessary to further revitalize the local community.

In response to these regional issues, the three parties will build a comprehensive partnership and cooperative relationship in the field of autonomous driving and combine their respective human and material resources to appropriately address regional issues and promote business collaboration, thereby working to create a vibrant town and realizing Minamisatsuma, a place where people want to live, work and visit, and where everyone can play a leading role.

2. Details of collaboration and cooperation
(1) Social implementation of autonomous driving to solve regional issues in Minamisatsuma City
(2) Creating a place where children can experience the latest technology
(3) Other matters necessary to achieve the objectives set forth in the preceding article.

3. Division of roles
Minamisatsuma City: Operator of autonomous driving business, application for Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism project
Providing driving routes, parking areas, charging areas, etc.

Macnica.: Provision of autonomous driving electric buses and remote monitoring systems
Engineering and support for autonomous driving EV buses, etc.

NTT West: Provision and maintenance of autonomous driving-related solutions and networks
Support for training remote monitors and operators, etc.

4. Future Developments
Our goal is to provide a safe and comfortable autonomous driving service that can be used with peace of mind by local residents of Minamisatsuma City, the surrounding area, and tourists.
Additionally, the three parties plan to work together to apply for approval for this initiative from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

5. Goal image of the comprehensive partnership agreement

6. autonomous driving vehicle image

*The information contained in this news release is current as of the time of publication. Please note that the information may differ from that at the time of publication.