Cabinet paves way for self-driving vehicles on Japan's roads next year with new rules

The Cabinet on Friday approved rules for operating partially self-driving vehicles, paving the way for the use of autonomous vehicles on public roads. Autonomous driving technology is classified into five levels, ranging from Level 1, which allows either steering, acceleration or braking to be automated, to fully automated Level 5. The government plans to enforce an ordinance defining violations and setting penalties by May next year as it envisions the use of Level 3 vehicles, which allow conditionally automated driving, on expressways in 2020. The newly decided penalties apply to the inappropriate use of Level 3 autonomous driving technologies, which require users to switch to manual operations when preset conditions regarding road type, driving speed, weather, time of day and other factors are no longer met. Violators of the ordinance will face fines of up to ¥12,000 ($110) depending on vehicle size.