Based on autonomous driving technology, will help raise the efficiency of initiatives for revitalization of local industry and tourism
Hitachi has developed a suite of digital platform technologies that raise the efficiency of initiatives by local municipalities for advancing the introduction of transportation services, including autonomous driving, from design and assessment to implementation of overall regional transportation networks, typically consisting of railway, bus, and other such services. The technology is aimed at a range of issues that include addressing the needs of people who lack public transportation access, making effective use of tourism resources, and easing traffic congestion due to overtourism while reducing its environmental burden. In these ways it is expected to help energize local industry and tourism, and to solve issues specific to regional communities by making use of data.
Among the regional-specific issues that have come to the fore in recent years are the difficulty of maintaining transportation services due to population decline from lower birthrates and an aging society, and traffic congestion brought on by overtourism. In the case of mobility-related issues, verification trials of transportation services, making use of autonomous driving, are being conducted in various locales.
Hitachi, building on its wealth of autonomous driving system technologies, including infrastructure cooperative system,*1 has developed digital platform technology aimed at raising the efficiency of the range of initiatives for introducing overall transportation systems geared to the characteristics of each region, from design and assessment to technology implementation and field testing. The platform includes technology capable of understanding regional characteristics such as population trends, industry structures, and tourism resources, and performing simulation of traffic flow. On this basis, design and assessment technologies are applied to the running routes of regional secondary transportation services as a whole, taking into account connection points with railways, and to the ODD*2 including the infrastructure sensors for autonomous driving. Other technology automates the process of adjusting infrastructure sensors*3 embedded along roadways, making use of environmental map data obtained in autonomous driving. It further includes technology that shares the assessment results from each initiative on a digital platform and provides prompt feedback leading to better designs that solve regional issues (Figure 1).
These technologies were applied to a public road demonstration in Minami-Alps City, Yamanashi Prefecture (Figure 2). Carried out jointly with the Movable City Association,*4 the trial confirmed the potential for half reducing the commitment of time and labor required for the main tasks in the above initiatives. For example, it enables the routes for autonomous vehicles needed by the local community to be designed quickly based on regional characteristics data including the views of users. It has therefore become possible to rapidly run repeated assessment cycles, including public road demonstrations, and to devise transportation services together with local communities that meet their true needs.
Hitachi is determined to continue with efforts such as these, making use of digital technology, that help municipalities and others solve issues specific to local communities, including revitalization of local industry and tourism.
Figure 1: Digital platform technology for efficient administration of regional transportation network initiatives from design and assessment to implementation and verification
Figure 2: Public road demonstration in Minami-Alps City
(For safety purposes, the operation of the public road demonstration was always performed by two individuals in the autonomous vehicles, a driver and an assistant, to minimize the risk of accidents.)
*1 Infrastructure cooperative system: An approach to support autonomous driving system to improve safety and efficiency by making use of information obtained from infrastructure sensors rather than relying on the sensors mounted on the vehicle alone.
*2 ODD: Operational Design Domain. The operating environment conditions under which autonomous driving systems can be safely engaged.
*3 Infrastructure sensors: Sensors embedded in road infrastructure to provide autonomous vehicles with information about traffic, traffic signals, risks, etc.
*4 Movable City Association: https://ugokumachi.org/ [in Japanese]
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