2nd Mobility Working Group

Overview

Date: February 13, 2024 (Tue) from 13:30 to 15:30
Location: online
Agenda:
1. Opening
2. Content
  1. Direction of measures for social implementation of mobility services using new digital technologies such as autonomous driving
  2. Status of Discussions by the "Sub-Working Group on Social Rules for Autonomous Vehicles in the AI Era"
3. Exchange of opinions
4. Adjournment

Material

Summary of proceedings

Chief Mori made the following remarks at the opening of the working group.
Based on the previous meeting, we summarized the issues that each ministry and agency should consider in the future and what kind of measures we expect each ministry and agency to take. In addition, in the Mobility Roadmap, we will also summarize the issues related to the range of services and mobility methods that are considered necessary for the commercialization of autonomous driving. In considering the commercialization, it is necessary to clarify how much productivity can be raised compared to existing mobility, so we would like to introduce a demand survey for mobility as part of the secretariat's consideration. We would like all members to make use of their knowledge and give their frank opinions on matters that should be further examined. We would like each ministry and agency to actively comment on possible responses based on the suggestions of today's experts.

1. Direction of measures for social implementation of mobility services using new digital technologies such as autonomous driving

Based on Material 2 and Reference 2, the secretariat explained the direction of measures for social implementation of mobility services using new digital technologies such as autonomous driving.

In order to solve social issues related to public transportation, it is necessary to flexibly examine business models that combine various mobility, people's flow, and distribution.
The Mobility Roadmap will focus on this point, but the scope will be flexible as far as the commercialization of autonomous driving is concerned.
In order to implement autonomous driving in society, it is necessary to solve various issues simultaneously and in a consistent manner as a whole. However, when considering measures, it is easier to understand if they are arranged as requirements for implementation in society. Therefore, we have arranged what is considered at present from the viewpoints of "establishment of business models," "establishment of technologies," and "establishment of systems and rules," and we would like you to discuss the direction of this.
In addition, in order to continue business, not only in autonomous driving, it is necessary to firmly grasp demand, and we are considering a method to visualize demand. This is a trial effort, but we would like to improve the accuracy of the purpose of moving essential daily necessities in order to dig up potential demand, so we would like your advice.

Main opinions

We received the following opinions from experts and related ministries and agencies on the direction of measures for social implementation of mobility services using new digital technologies such as autonomous driving.

Visualization and creation of demand

Expert
- In order to visualize demand, it is necessary to sort out how to overlap existing demand, and what kind of service is required, separately from simple mobile demand.
- In order to visualize and create demand, it is important to consider how much people and cargo can be transported without transporting air to improve sales, for example, by taking measures such as mixed freight and passenger transportation.
- (For demand and operation status that lead to improved operation rate and route efficiency, for example, using IC cards (such as Suica) in railway infrastructure) We should consider a mechanism in which data that objectively grasps actual flows can be obtained with visualization tools.
- The demand forecast should be considered with the utilization scene in mind.

Improvement of operation rate and route efficiency

Ministries and agencies concerned
- In utilizing existing facilities as mobility hubs, there is an opinion that it is necessary to reorganize the specifications of standard hubs that can cope with the renewal of facilities due to aging.

Evaluating contributions to social impact

Expert
- Establishing a business model is very important. It is important to reduce initial investment and create multiple benefits and various added values.
- In order to encourage elderly people to return their licenses, it would be a good idea to introduce self-driving buses as a means of transportation and a place for communication with the aim of enhancing second life.
- It is good to show that autonomous driving contributes to carbon neutrality, etc.

Flexible sharing of operating expenses

Expert
- The government may have no choice but to consider how the public and private sectors should shoulder the burden and how to increase the number of public entities.
- The important point is how much the cost can be reduced. If a large system is developed from the beginning, running costs will be incurred and the possibility of monetization may be reduced. Therefore, it is better to start with small monetization.
Ministries and agencies concerned
- The premise of establishing a business model for automated driving is strange. I agree with the expert's point that we have no choice but to consider how the public and private sectors should bear the burden and how to increase the number of public entities.
- We believe the time has come for the government to step up its efforts to cover the public burden.
- In order to realize autonomous driving in rural underpopulated areas, there is no choice but to increase the involvement of public entities, and it is necessary to consider social infrastructure such as vertical separation and public construction, including the burden on the region.

Reduction of initial and operating costs

Expert
- Start dash is important to reduce the initial cost. I would like you to consider increasing the amount by linking the existing autonomous driving support business, MaaS support business, smart city, etc.
- It is important to make the best use of existing assets and make efforts to reduce investment in infrastructure supporting autonomous driving.
- It is realistic to start with items where the initial investment is small and the value is likely to increase, and expand the range as you gain experience.
- The estimation simulation when the operation plan of the mobility is made is surely carried out.
- There is a tendency to focus only on the vehicle side, but the cost of the operation management system, ticketing system, and back-end system is also important.
Ministries and agencies concerned
- For the implementation of autonomous driving, we are working on technological upgrading and cost reduction support for major technologies in cooperation with related ministries and agencies.

Expansion of learning opportunities

Expert
- Fairly good data is being collected from the MaaS project and the autonomous driving demonstration support project currently being implemented, and it should be used as a reference.
- Regarding the implementation of autonomous driving and data collection, it is necessary for intermediate support groups that can absorb the government's aim and the needs of consumers to communicate firmly and carefully advance the implementation.
- In recent years, there has been a move to let AI learn while taking data wisely, and along with that, the application of generative AI to the development of technology for autonomous driving has also advanced. I think it will be necessary for the industry to cooperate on how to use generative AI for the development of technology for autonomous driving.
- It is important for the government to secure the amount of computing resources necessary for technological development of autonomous driving.
Ministries and agencies concerned
- In the autonomous driving demonstration support project, we will work on data collection based on today's opinions and cooperate with each government agency.
- From the viewpoint that without an overwhelming amount of data and learning, we cannot stand on the threshold of safety, there is a lack of measures for securing computing resources and collecting data.

Establishment of road-vehicle coordination technology

Expert
- Regarding the risk of roadside-to-vehicle coordination and its evaluation, and data collection, the conditions that shake the ODD of automatic operation level 4 were identified in detail.
- In order to establish road-to-vehicle coordination, I would like to see rules and business models included in the roadmap.
- In view of the self-driving society, what should be prepared as ITS infrastructure should be sorted out.
- In parallel with the technical establishment, it is necessary to clarify the responsibility demarcation point while organizing the operation.
- There is a problem of time frame in the examination of road-vehicle coordination technology. It is a technology that can be realized immediately, but it should be arranged so as not to cause misunderstanding that it will take time to develop nationwide.
- The details and timing of implementation, technology, use cases, and degree of completion should also be examined in detail.
- Since it is difficult to develop the introduction of roadside-to-vehicle communication into automated driving in the short term, necessary additional measures should be considered based on the existing roadside-to-vehicle communication system.
Ministries and agencies concerned
- We would like to contribute from the perspective of improving the communications environment while being aware of the time frame.
- It is important to align the specifications and standards of the systems and infrastructure to be developed.
- Based on the Road Law, there are two ways: one is for road administrators to pay for certain facilities, and the other is to allow businesses to occupy their own facilities. However, it is necessary to consider the question of whether it will work as a business.

Establishment of other driving technologies

Expert
- It is better to look at the entire system by securing and operating the infrastructure, the operation system using the infrastructure, and the management of various facilities, for example, by dividing the equipment infrastructure such as railway tracks and stations into the operation, transportation system, and passenger service.
- In terms of technology, there is still a lot of room for discussion. In promoting efforts, it is very important to clarify the range guaranteed by the system, which should be the judgment criteria. It is necessary to clarify the functions to be arranged and the responsibility demarcation point in the trinity of cars, nearby traffic participants, and the traffic environment.
- Regarding service models, indicators, and data reduction using autonomous vehicles, we will use indicators that have already been cultivated for railways and buses where they can be commonly used. In addition, it is necessary to consider KPI logic as an autonomous driving business now.
- We consider a model of cooperation with other mobility systems that can make use of the weaknesses and strengths of autonomous driving, and the systems that will be needed.
Ministries and agencies concerned
- In addition to improving road-to-vehicle coordination technology, it is also important to improve existing safety facilities such as pedestrian separation signals. At present, pedestrian separation signals are installed in consideration of the effects on traffic flow and safety, and it may be possible to install them on autonomous driving routes.
- There is an opinion that it is important to leave the technical verification phase as soon as possible and proceed with hypothesis verification to enhance the business feasibility of the service.
- It is also important to talk about the demarcation point of responsibility, and we would like to actively consider it as a working-level official.

Improvement of social acceptability

Expert
- The establishment of systems and rules should be consistent as a whole. In particular, it is important to concentrate on low-speed self-driving buses, which are ahead of others, for early realization.
- In order for the people to feel the convenience and safety with their skin, all automated driving levels 1 to 3 are mobilized.
- Since safety is required to be able to cope with various disturbances, evaluation in the actual environment and practical tests including field tests are required.
- Regarding social acceptability, the role of local governments is naturally necessary, and it is also necessary to include the design of designated areas for autonomous driving in city planning and to involve local governments in business operator certification.
- Security and safety are two different things. The key word for social acceptability is security.
Ministries and agencies concerned
- It is necessary to have the inhabitant of the region regard the mobility service as the self.

Other General

Expert
- Even if autonomous buses are introduced, there will be a gap in time and space for transportation. We hope that private ride-sharing will be actively introduced.
- It can be summarized from the perspective of aiming for a shared economy with a zero marginal cost society, such as the use of cyberspace. It is good to include the sense of providing good services at low cost by utilizing the cooperative area of commons (including business models).
- It is necessary to clarify the scope of safety assessment of autonomous vehicles and the specific assessment method for each type of business. I understand that the working group will handle such technical discussions or the sub-working group will consider the responsibilities of autonomous vehicles. However, since the scope of safety verification and responsibilities are strongly related, I would like the working group and sub-working group to clarify the scope of handling.
- It should be kept in mind to realize it step by step with limited space, scene, purpose and vehicle.
Ministries and agencies concerned
- Since there are cases where demonstration is carried out many times, we will make efforts to move from demonstration to implementation as soon as possible.
- Unless we aim for a world where the productivity of mobility services themselves improves and the marginal cost decreases as the business expands, no means will solve the problem.
- It is necessary to introduce combined techniques such as services with an awareness of the cooperative area and the integration of traffic flow lines, and to think of turning down vertical things horizontally. A roadmap approach is essential to consider issues including potential demand across various business sectors such as taxis and buses.

2. Status of discussions at the "Sub-Working Group on Social Rules for Autonomous Vehicles in the AI Era"

The secretariat of the sub-working group explained based on Material 3.

We will identify issues in the case of applying the current system to accidents in unmanned automated driving as it is, and positively consider measures to quickly implement and realize unmanned automated driving that contributes to a significant reduction in traffic accidents.
In the first session, we identified points of contention, and in the second session, we focused on how to create a mechanism to prevent recurrence and advance prevention through investigation of the cause of the accident. The third session will be held at the end of this month, and an interim report will be prepared in May.
I would like the Sub-Working Group and this Working Group to cooperate and discuss, including the demarcation point of responsibility.
Each country is also considering what kind of rules should be re-established for unmanned automatic driving, and we would like to firmly consider not to fall behind.

Summary

At the closing of the meeting, Chief Mori summarized the working group as a whole as follows.

We hope that relevant ministries and agencies will deepen their discussions and actively propose what they can do, regardless of the allocation, and bring it to the government decision process.
Based on today's comments, a draft roadmap will be presented at the next meeting.

Greater than or