Shiga Prefecture, NTT West, NTT Business Solutions, and Macnica Public-private partnership to conduct a research project aimed at demonstrating and implementing autonomous driving in Shiga Prefecture

Shiga Prefecture (Governor: Mikazuki Taizo), Nippon Telegraph and Telephone West Corporation (Shiga Branch Manager: Wakabayashi Nobuhiro, hereinafter referred to as NTT West), NTT Business Solutions Corporation (Shiga Business Sales Manager: Sugimoto Shinji, hereinafter referred to as NTT Business Solutions), and Macnica (Representative Director and President: Hara Kazumasa, hereinafter referred to as Macnica) concluded the "Shiga Prefecture autonomous driving Social Implementation Promotion Project Consortium Agreement" on Tuesday, May 7, 2024, and applied for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's "Regional Public Transportation Assurance, Maintenance and Improvement Project Subsidy (autonomous driving Social Implementation Promotion Project, subsidy rate 10/10, hereinafter referred to as "this project")," and have now been notified that they have been selected.
Therefore, through this consortium agreement, the four parties will promote a "research project for the demonstration and implementation of autonomous driving in Shiga Prefecture" in order to resolve regional issues such as "maintaining and ensuring sustainable public transportation" in Shiga Prefecture.

1. Background and Objectives
Social issues related to maintaining regional transportation and driver shortages are becoming more serious nationwide. To solve these social issues, there is an urgent need to realize sustainable public transportation and logistics using mobility technologies such as autonomous driving. The national government has set a goal of more than 50 locations by fiscal year 2025 and more than 100 locations by fiscal year 2027, and efforts are currently underway.

In order to maintain and revitalize a sustainable transportation network that can respond to various changes in social conditions, Shiga Prefecture formulated the "Shiga Regional Transportation Vision" in March 2024, aiming to create "sustainable regional transportation that allows everyone to get to where they want, when they want."
To make this a reality, starting this year, we have been working on creating the Shiga Regional Transportation Plan through repeated dialogue with prefectural residents and others to determine the best means of transportation for the region.
It is difficult to meet the various mobility needs of the region with existing public transportation alone, and it is necessary to improve the level of service to meet needs and increase the number of users by utilizing all means of transportation in the region, and we believe that "autonomous driving" is one option.
In order to address these regional issues, the four parties will build a cooperative relationship in the field of autonomous driving, collaborate using their respective human and material resources, and work together to promote this project. By doing so, they hope to identify areas and needs in Shiga Prefecture that are suitable for autonomous driving technology and to verify its feasibility.

2. Overview of the selected projects
This project will involve conducting a "field survey suitable for the implementation of autonomous driving in Shiga Prefecture," and will identify areas suitable for autonomous driving technology based on urban structure, mobility characteristics, needs, population density, transportation resources, etc., and will conduct feasibility studies, risk assessments, 3D map creation, and other surveys with the aim of conducting demonstration operations next year.

・ Project period: After grant decision - February 2025
・ Project cost: 20 million yen (regional public transport maintenance and improvement project subsidy, subsidy rate 10/10)
・ Vehicle to be used/ autonomous driving technology (planned): New EV bus NAVYA EVO
- Compatible with Level 4 autonomous driving systems
- Capacity: 15 people (11 seats, 4 standing)
-Speed 25km/h (Japan's recommended speed limit is less than 20km/h)
-EV (maximum driving time 9 hours, driving distance 100km)

Figure 1. Conceptual image of an autonomous driving electric bus

3. Roles of each party
・ Shiga Prefecture: Overall project management and coordination with related parties
Interview surveys of cities and towns, etc.

・NTT West Japan: Interview surveys of cities and towns, surveys of autonomous driving routes, etc.

・NTT Business Solutions: autonomous driving introduction engineering
Survey of autonomous driving routes, etc.

・ Macnica: autonomous driving introduction engineering (vehicles) and support
Risk assessment for driving routes, etc.

4. Future Developments
Based on the results of this project, the four parties will work together to promote the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism project, with the aim of conducting demonstration operations in fiscal 2025 (the level of autonomous driving will be considered within the project) to identify issues in terms of management, technology, and social acceptability, and to verify the feasibility of using autonomous driving in regional public transportation networks.

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