Autonomous taxi experience offered for foreign visitors to Tokyo

A consortium of companies is offering foreign visitors in Tokyo a taste of autonomous driving in the world's first demonstration of a project utilizing both an airport shuttle bus and a self-driving taxi to smoothly travel from the airport to the Marunouchi shopping district near Tokyo Station. The Mobility as a Service experiment that will allow smartphone users to make a reservation is to be held from Jan. 20 to Feb. 1. Foreign nationals can reserve a shuttle bus from Haneda or Narita airport to Tokyo City Air Terminal and from there ride an autonomous taxi for about 3 kilometers to Marunouchi. They can also ride in a fully autonomous single-seat vehicle for free on select days and use a tablet to move to their destination of choice within the Marunouchi area. The autonomous taxi will have a backup driver for safety reasons. Reservations via smartphone app started on Dec. 2 and will run until Jan. 9.