Autonomous taxi tests to start in Tokyo with view to launch service in 2020

Tests on public roads of an autonomous taxi carrying passengers will be held in central Tokyo for nearly two weeks from late August with the aim of launching the service in 2020, a tech firm and a major taxi company said Wednesday. ZMP Inc., a Tokyo-based developer of autonomous driving technology, and Hinomaru Kotsu Co. will conduct the tests from Aug. 27 to Sept. 8 over a route of some 5.3 km between commercial facilities in Tokyo's Otemachi and Roppongi districts, they said. The initiative comes as competition intensifies in the development of autonomous vehicles. General Motors Co. and Waymo, a spinoff of Google's parent company Alphabet Inc., have started tests on public roads, while Nissan Motor Co. and DeNA Co. conducted tests on a ride-hailing service in Yokohama in March. The Japanese government has allowed the testing of automated driving systems on public roads since 2017 in the hope of accelerating commercialization of the technology ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and also to address the shortage of drivers in a society with an aging demographic profile.