Continental AG, the German automotive manufacturer, is launching Robo-Taxi in Japan for a test drive this year. The model of the test vehicle has been adjusted to suit its actual operation in Japan and will be run for a test drive around the company. The Robo-Taxi demonstrates new technology that stresses changes in autonomous and unmanned robotic transport services in Japan in 2018. The adjusted model for a test drive in Japan reflects the development of sensor and control systems which will be proposed for real operation in Japan in the future.

The Robo-Taxi will be test-run at Continental Automotive of Japan Corporation. Equipped with “level 5” automatic driving technology, the vehicle can be unattended and run at 10-20 kilometers per hour using an in-vehicle camera and a millimeter wave radar to scan and detect the surroundings of the vehicle and the map information.

In the past, Continental AG carried out a first test run of the Robo-Taxi in and around the university in Frankfurt. Japan is now the second country to have a test drive of the vehicle. Initially, the run will be carried out within the company area. Subsequently, the company may consider having a test run outside the area.

It is expected that the Robo-Taxi will be one of the beneficial transportation options in the aging society and among the labor shortages in Japan. Nissan and DeNA also conducted a test run for such automotive vehicles in March this year while Daiwa Motor Transportation together with Gunma University and JRI tested their public unattended transport on May 22.

Continental plans to raise sales in 2019 of automobile manufacturers to more than 540 billion yen, which will double the sales in 2014. In addition to the Robo-Taxi, the company will also expand its business with Japanese manufacturers by developing other automatic driving technology including electric cars.