Tobetsu Town, Hokkaido and Macnica conduct demonstration run of autonomous driving EV bus around JR Tobetsu Station to consider introducing it in urban areas

The town of Tobetsu in Hokkaido (Mayor: Goto Masahiro) and Macnica (Headquarters: Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture; Representative Director and President: Kazumasa Hara; hereinafter "Macnica) will conduct a demonstration run of an autonomous driving electric bus on public roads to explore the feasibility of introducing it in urban areas.

This demonstration run will be the first urban route that runs from the south exit of JR Tobetsu Station via Tobetsu Gakuen. In an urban area with heavy pedestrian and vehicular traffic and a difficult road environment, data will be collected and analyzed from the perspectives of both technology and social acceptability, and verification necessary for the introduction of autonomous driving EV buses as public transportation will be carried out.

For this demonstration experiment, Macnica will operate Navya Mobility's "ARMA ^{* 1}", an autonomous driving EV bus with no steering wheel, accelerator or brake pedals. In addition, to ensure safer operation, signal coordination will also be implemented in some sections through infrastructure linkage, whereby the vehicle will acquire signal information. Vehicle driving information and infrastructure information will be visualized using Macnica 's remote monitoring system, "everfleet ^{* 2}," allowing the real-time operating status of the autonomous driving EV bus to be monitored from a remote location.

[Outline of this demonstration]
■Date: Thursday, October 17th, 2024 to Friday, October 18th, 2024 Test drive for related parties
Public test drive: Saturday, October 19, 2024 to Sunday, November 3, 2024
※Cancelled in case of bad weather
■Time: 9:00-16:10 (6 flights per day)
■ autonomous driving vehicles: autonomous driving electric bus ARMA
■Route: JR Tobetsu Station South Exit - Tobetsu Town Tobetsu Gakuen - JR Tobetsu Station South Exit (3.4km)

Capacity: 8 people per flight
■How to board: No prior reservations are required, and boarding will be on a first-come, first-served basis at the bus stop.
*You may not be able to board depending on how crowded the bus is.
■ Fare: Free

*1: autonomous driving EV bus ARMA (manufactured by Navya Mobility)
ARMA is an autonomous driving shuttle bus equipped with an autonomous driving EV system. It is an EV (electric vehicle) and can run autonomously for about 9 hours (100 km) on a single charge.

Overall length: 4,750mm
Height: 2,650mm
Overall width: 2,110mm
Weight: 2,400 kg
Total vehicle weight: 3,450kg
Passenger capacity: 9 (8 passengers + 1 operator)
Power source: EV electric motor
Maximum speed: 19km/h during demonstration operation
autonomous driving level: Level 2

The autonomous driving EV buses used in this demonstration run will be provided by the "autonomous driving Demonstration Test Support Service Program" jointly established by Macnica, Fuyo General Lease Co., Ltd., and Fuyo Auto Lease Co., Ltd. For details, please refer to the following URL.
https://www.macnica.co.jp/business/maas/news/2021/136501/

*2: everfleet (Macnica remote monitoring system)
In order to put autonomous driving into practical use, it is necessary to monitor passengers in the vehicle and the situation around the vehicle from a remote location. everfleet integrates vehicle data such as vehicle speed, steering, and battery level in addition to the location information of the mobility vehicle and camera footage inside and outside the vehicle, and visualizes it in a centralized manner. It is also possible to link with external data in coordination with traffic infrastructure such as traffic lights. This makes it possible to grasp the operating status from a remote location in real time and operate autonomous driving mobility safely and securely. Furthermore, since it is possible to simultaneously manage a wide variety of mobility vehicles in multiple regions and automatically detect and notify abnormalities during operation, a single remote operator can efficiently manage the operation of autonomous driving mobility vehicles, thereby reducing the number of operations and contributing to improving transportation profitability.

<Contact information for inquiries regarding this demonstration project>
Hoshino, Planning Division, Planning Department, Tobetsu Town
TEL: 0133-23-2393
MAIL: kotsu@town.tobetsu.hokkaido.jp

Tanaka, Government Solutions Promotion Office Macnica
TEL: 045-470-9191
MAIL: tanaka-yos@macnica.co.jp

*Product names mentioned in the text are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
*Information (including product prices, specifications, etc.) in the news release is current as of the date of the announcement. Please note that it is subject to change without prior notice.