‘Level 4’ Self-Driving Buses Get First Tokyo Tests

Highly autonomous buses are being tested on public roads in Tokyo for the first time.

Researchers from the University of Tokyo began testing the buses on January 13.

These buses are described as being “level 4” on the scale used to measure self-driving vehicles, which was created by Pennsylvania-based SAE International. At level 4 on this scale, vehicles can drive themselves in many situations — though usually only in a certain area.

Although this is the first time in the Tokyo area that level 4 buses have been used on public roads, they have been tested in other parts of the country.

For now, level 4 technology will only be used for about 700 meters of a 2.6-kilometer bus route.

When the buses are not using level 4 technology, they will use level 2 technology instead. At this point on the scale, a driver needs to be ready to take control at any time.

Buses on this route travel between the University of Tokyo’s Kashiwa and Kashiwanoha campuses.

These buses run four times per day on three days each week. They can be used by students and people working for the university.

Kimihiko Nakano from the University of Tokyo said that there is a lot of traffic on this bus route, so it is a good place to test the technology.

The bus can travel at a maximum speed of 40 kilometers per hour.

Researchers hope to test level 4 autonomous buses in more areas. There is a shortage of bus drivers in Japan, and the hope is that autonomous buses will be able to help with this.