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.

In a bid to help fix the nation's child care crunch, a Tokyo-based start-up is testing a new service combining robots and sensors to monitor kids at nurseries. Global Bridge Holdings, a child care and nursing care venture, is working with academics from Gunma University to develop a system aimed at alleviating the burden of nursery school teachers, many of whom are overworked amid a nationwide staffing shortage. The project features a specially designed bear-shaped robot called Vevo that can greet and identify children and record their body temperatures using a thermograph. During naps, sensors embedded in cots can monitor heart rates and body movements of children to make sure they are breathing. An alarm system will notify teachers if any abnormalities are detected.