Nissan is planning to launch a self-driving taxi service in Japan with telecom company DeNA.
Known as Easy Ride, the “robo-vehicle mobility service” is being developed by both companies who plan to conduct a field test in the Minatomirai district of Yokohama, in Japan’s Kanagawa Prefecture, on March 5.
Participants in the trial will be able to travel in Nissan vehicles equipped with autonomous driving technology along a 4.5-kilometre route between the automaker’s global headquarters and the Yokohama World Porters shopping centre.
Nissan and DeNA have also set up a remote monitoring centre to better managed the fleet operation, and to provide customers with more piece of mind.
“The field test will enable Nissan and DeNA to learn from the experience of operating the Easy Ride service trial with public participation, as both companies look toward future commercial endeavours,” Nissan said in its news release. “Nissan and DeNA will also work to develop service designs for driverless environments, expanded service routes, vehicle distribution logic, pick-up/drop-off processes and multilingual support.”
Passengers will also have access to a mobile app for the service and the vehicles will include an “in-car tablet screen” that will present nearly 500 places of interest and events in the area.
Nissan and DeNA plan to launch Easy Ride in a limited environment before introducing the full “robo-vehicle mobility service” in the early 2020s.
