French Shuttle Toddles to Tokyo (Video)

Burney Simpson

About as exciting as French rock and roll.

EasyMile scored another victory in the driverless-shuttle sector, partnering with Japan’s DeNA to announce an August launch of its bus service in a shopping center in the Chiba Prefecture near Tokyo.

The Robot Shuttle will use EasyMile’s EZ10 electric-powered, driverless shuttle that carries up to 12 passengers and tops out around 25 mph.

Here is a video the companies released that is somewhat like watching paint dry or viewing a major golf tournament.

DeNA is an app maker that has made a name for itself in mobile gaming. Its data-processing expertise could prove valuable as it works to expand into driverless transportation. The company reported revenues of $1.4 billion in its fiscal year ending March 2015, according to The Wall Street Journal.

DeNA has teamed with wireless carrier NTT Docomo with plans to take the EZ10 to public roads in the Japanese city of Fukuoka. That could be a gamechanger for Robot Shuttle as it has been used on private roads or in controlled traffic areas like resort communities.

Nikkei Asian Review reports that Docomo’s “fifth-generation mobile communications network (is) 100 times faster than the current standard. … (and it) aims to have a working 5G service by 2020.”

EasyMile is a joint partnership of two French firms, vehicle manufacturer Ligier Group and robotics experts Robosoft.

Robosoft says it has deployed more than 1,000 robots in business applications in the last three decades.

EasyMile driverless shuttles were used this year during the European Project CityMobil2 conference in San Sebastian in the Basque region of Spain. They have also been demonstrated in Finland, France, Greece, Italy, and Switzerland.

EasyMile reports that more than 1.5 million passengers have been transported since 2008 in its autonomous shuttle models. The firm claims expertise in multi-sensor localization, obstacle detection, navigation, V2I and V2V connectivity, fleet management, and cybersecurity.

Video courtesy of Impress Watch.