The driver, who got the bus humming with the push of a button, stayed behind the wheel but was hands-off most of the time, keeping intervention to a minimum. The bus, sporting an array of sensors and cameras, was limited to a maximum speed of around 30 kph. The bus completed the circuit from Gunma University to Shibukawa Station in about an hour, twice a day for nine days, as part of a pilot program set up by the school, a local bus line, the Gunma Prefectural Government and NEC. The aim: to achieve the government's goal of getting driverless vehicles up and running on Japan's roads by the end of the year. The move underlines the fact that self-driving vehicles are no longer a vision for the distant future, but just around the corner.

The Abe administration is stepping up efforts to improve the safety of drones as it tries to develop a delivery service using the unmanned vehicles in depopulated areas, such as remote islands, by 2018, a government source said. The cost of developing the new private-sector service is expected to be incorporated in the budget request for the fiscal year starting next April, the source said Monday. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pledged to draw up necessary measures for the drone delivery program within the next three years. The administration sees drone-related services as a pillar to support elderly people and to deliver relief goods in disaster areas. The government is also aiming to help private-sector companies so they can start a drone home delivery service in urban areas by 2020, when Tokyo will host the Olympics, the source said.