Mobility Working Group (3rd)

Overview

Date and time: Tuesday, March 26, 2024, from 10:00 to 12:00
Location: Online
Agenda:
1. Opening
2. Proceedings
  1. Direction of the Compilation of Mobility Roadmap 2024 (tentative name)
  2. Status of discussions by the "Sub-Working Group on Review of Social Rules for automated driving vehicles in age of AI"
3. Exchange of opinions
4. Adjournment

Materials

Summary of proceedings

At the beginning, Chief Researcher Mori gave the following address at the opening of the working group.
Based on the previous meeting, we will discuss the measures that each ministries and agencies should consider in the future, including the time frame. This time, we will present the draft outline of Mobility Roadmap as a draft for discussion, and we would like to hear the frank opinions of experts. In addition, we would like to hear proactive statements on future response policies based on the suggestions of experts in the relevant ministries and agencies.

1. Direction of the compilation of Mobility Roadmap 2024 (tentative name)

Based on Materials 2 and 1, the Secretariat explained the direction of the compilation of automated driving 2024 (tentative name) toward the social implementation of mobility services using new digital technologies such as Mobility Roadmap, and the current proposed measures.

Key Comments

For the social implementation of mobility services using new digital technologies such as automated driving, we received opinions from experts and related ministries and agencies on the direction of measures in Mobility Roadmap 2024 (tentative name) as follows.

Mobility Roadmap skeleton (draft)

Experts
- The word "cultivation" of automated driving technology lacks dynamism, so it needs to be revised.
- There may be elements of carbon neutrality.
- It is better to have an element of overseas cooperation and development.
- The whole process is needed in the roadmap.

Mobility Roadmap's way of thinking

Experts
- The degree of participation of citizens and the public in the commercialization of mobility services should be clarified.
- In the next fiscal year and beyond, the mobility of people and goods should be considered separately. I hope the people will work on how to incorporate people as passengers into the system so that the burden on everyone will be reduced.
- It is better to have a system of industry, government and academia that supports Mobility Roadmap such as human resource development.
- It is necessary to have a vision of where the near-future map of mobility Service aims to be and how to do it in each field step by step to realize it.
- It is necessary to adjust the level of social KPI, financial KPI, etc.
- It should be in line with the mobility DX Review Meeting.
- The relationship with other traffic participants such as pedestrians should also be incorporated into the measures.
- In the short term, it should be small start and start where you can.
- It is important not to get too caught up in the Sino-U. S. approach, but to realize a Japanese-style area society that is in line with automated driving's traffic and use cases.
- With the global expansion of automobile manufacturers in mind, it can be a system model for infrastructure cooperation.
- By focusing support on the specific local government where the hand is raised, it may be possible to see how to reduce costs.
- It may be necessary to consider the fields separately for each involved party and to consider the priority items of each measure separately for the short -, medium -, and long-term.
- Uniform standards are important, but starting with limited conditions should also be discussed.
Relevant ministries and agencies
- We will work to make Japan's way of thinking a de facto standard in the international community.
- It is important to have a message that private business can see Mobility Roadmap and invest in this field, so we will fine-tune it for the next time.
- In addition to the business menu, we would like to deepen cooperation and horizontal arrangement of business methods in cooperation with the public and private sectors based on the framework of this time.
- We would like to consult with each ministries and agencies on what kind of statistics should be used for autonomous vehicles to send a message about the social impact of safety.
- In implementing this roadmap, we would like to send a message when and what kind of autonomous vehicles are running as a business.
- We would like to see a roadmap that combines supply and demand to gradually commercialize self-driving vehicles, and that nicely presents what we aim to achieve beyond that, so that businesses in private sector can realize that they are deeply involved in self-driving vehicles.

Visualization and creation of demands

Experts
- By connecting with railway and bus terminals, automated driving is complemented and the benefits to area are increased.
- Include in terms of access to services as well as mobility demand.
- It is important to establish a business model by maturing social acceptance.
- It is important to create actual cases while receiving feedback from area, which accepts automated driving.
- In addition to the company's commuter bus, replacing school and kindergarten buses may lead to support for automated driving in terms of demand and cost.

Improvement of operation rate and route efficiency

Experts
- It is necessary to make use of idle assets and devise ways to avoid transporting only air, such as freight and passenger consolidation, and the economy will circulate by increasing the number of stakeholders and clarifying the business model.
- No social implementation is made unless convenience such as speed and operation frequency is provided to users.
- From the perspective of providing convenience, it is important to reduce the waiting time for mobility.
Relevant ministries and agencies
- A detailed study of the maintenance methods and functions of the mobility Hub is scheduled to begin during fiscal 2024.

Evaluation of contributions to social impact

Experts
- We would like to continue to evaluate the social impact by linking with power-related data obtained from EVs, etc.
- Carbon neutrality is a big Issue to solve in the new mobility.
- We would like to show that the safety of traffic can be improved by utilizing the results of measures such as infrastructure cooperation to areas other than automated driving.
Relevant ministries and agencies
- Within SIP, we are working on creating guidelines for the introduction of automated driving services.
- In light of the impact of automated driving on other traffic entities such as pedestrians, it is important to ensure safety and to raise awareness that the technology is safe for other entities as well.

Reduction of initial costs and operating costs

Experts
- In order to reduce social costs, we would like to see the use of existing power infrastructure if it can be used. In addition, cost reductions can be expected through the standardization of maintenance.
- It is also necessary to consider maintenance, efficiency of inspection, continuous use of vehicles, and short sensor life.

Flexible burden of operating expenses

Experts
- It is important to clarify who is involved and paint a picture that everyone is a win-win.
Relevant ministries and agencies
- From the viewpoint of making the best use of transportation resources in area, discussions are underway at the area Transportation Re-Design Conference.
- The direction of the measures described is related to the maintenance of public transportation, and the state of the public and private burden of automated driving itself should be discussed by the relevant ministries and agencies.

Expanding Learning Opportunities

Experts
- With the rise of generative AI, how to improve learning environments and how to efficiently collect and process large amounts of image information are the key to technological development. For this purpose, how to secure computing resources as a country is very important.
Relevant ministries and agencies
- It is necessary to make the examination standards transparent and create successful cases in cooperation with the relevant ministries and agencies.

Establishment of road-vehicle coordination technology

Experts
- We would like you to consider how to use the technology, responsibility in the event of a problem, and standards for reliability.
- It is necessary to specify who will play what role in the road-vehicle cooperation and clearly show what kind of benefits there will be such as cost reduction.
- We would like to discuss both ITS infrastructure and automated driving vehicles infrastructure necessary for automated driving society, such as the realization of digital twin at intersections and continuous monitoring of ICT, with related ministries and agencies.
- The idea is to build a backbone infrastructure system with a common architecture and then provide various services such as MaaS for each area.
- A service infrastructure that enables data connections of each system toward the realization of a data-driven society is necessary.
- Consideration should also be given to low-cost usage models, such as subscriptions, which can share the investment of the entire infrastructure.
Relevant ministries and agencies
- When considering the cost aspect, it is also important to consider what communication infrastructure is truly necessary.
- In SIP, we are conducting research and study on signal information provision technology using the V2N system, and are also considering how to share the cost and how to respond to signal failures.
- On the Shintona Expressway and other expressways, efforts toward implementation of the automated driving Service Support Road are scheduled to start during fiscal 2024.
- It can be said that starting with a regular route like a bus is one of the ways to spread the Japanese-style automated driving.

Establishment of other travel technologies

Experts
- There is a possibility that technologies to improve the efficiency of mobility services may be utilized in railways, buses, and taxis. In addition, if road-vehicle cooperation and dedicated lanes are examined, automated driving will be implementation.
- For data utilization in the mobility field, it is also important to earn money by selling data.
Relevant ministries and agencies
- In SIP, we are studying a platform for mutual utilization of mobility information.
- It is necessary to promote discussions throughout DX, such as responses to SDV and data connections to companies.

Improved social acceptability

Experts
- It is necessary to have a mechanism that does not place the responsibility solely on individual manufacturers.

2. Status of review by the "Sub-Working Group on Review of Social Rules for automated driving vehicles in age of AI"

Based on Material 3, the Secretariat explained the status of the SWG's discussions to date and the direction of future discussions.

Summary

At the closing of the meeting, Chief Researcher Mori gave the following summary of the entire working group.

Based on the hand-up by local government, it is necessary to build a system that can support ministries and agencies who raised his hand, including assistant level officials of related local government, university professors, and industry experts.
Various supports can be expected by limiting the number of subsidy for the Vision for a Digital Garden City Nation to about 50. For example, utilization of local government and support limited to area where a hand is raised, utilization of SBIR for tuning, and corporate version of Benefit-Your-Locality Hometown Tax with the cooperation of various organizations for operation support.
For the next round, I would like each ministries and agencies to promptly and actively consider the content and time frame of the measures, compile Mobility Roadmap 2024 (tentative name), and bring it to the government decision process.

End