Japan to set up 100 km stretch for self-driving vehicles in 2020

The government is planning to establish a 100 kilometer lane for self-driving vehicles between Surugawan-Numazu and Hamamatsu on the Shin-Tomei Express route in fiscal 2024.

The decision came at a Friday meeting of the Council for a Vision for a Digital Garden City Nation Realization chaired by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the Prime Minister's Office. The government said it intends to create safe, nationwide drone routes.

The plans are part of a comprehensive government development plan for digitization, which was rolled out at the meeting.

Kishida said that the whole government should work together on this project. The prime minister asked Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura to speed up preparations for the project.

The goal is to be able to provide logistics and other services in 100 locations throughout Japan by the year 2027, according to the government.

The plan initially aims to cover more than 150 kilometers in the Chichibu area of Saitama Prefecture by fiscal 2024, using power transmission and distribution infrastructure such as electricity pylons and utility poles.

The government hopes to establish routes covering some 40,000 kilometers in the future - a distance equivalent to the circumference of the Earth.