Autonomous vehicles ‘not yet realistic’: Toyota CEO

Toyota has announced a raft of new safety measures for its autonomous shuttle bus program at the Tokyo Paralympics following a collision that injured a Paralympian last Thursday.

An electric Toyota e-Palette collided with vision-impaired judo competitor Aramitsu Kitazono while he was walking on a pedestrian crossing inside the Paralympic village.

The 30-year-old Japanese was knocked to the ground in the low-speed impact, sustaining cuts and bruises to his head and body that prevented him from competing in a judo match on Saturday.

Although it’s not clear whether the vehicle was under manual or automated control, Toyota immediately suspended its self-driving shuttle bus program pending an investigation.

“We are very sorry that the accident has made many people worried,” said Toyota president Akio Toyoda via the company’s Toyota Times YouTube program after the incident.

“There was some overconfidence,” added Toyoda, who said he had visited the junction and checked video footage of the accident.

According to Reuters, the Toyota CEO said the Paralympics was a challenging environment in which to operate a driverless vehicle, thanks in part to the number of visually impaired athletes.

“It shows that autonomous vehicles are not yet realistic for normal roads,” said Toyoda.

New safety measures announced today, before the 24-hour shuttle service resumes this afternoon, include a “system that can work instead of traffic signals to safely guide vehicles and pedestrians”.

“Together with the Organizing Committee Toyota has determined additional safety measures,” said the world’s biggest car-maker in an official statement.

“Toyota will increase the volume of the vehicles’ approach-warning sounds, improve system for manual driving, and educate operators in order to respond to the safety needs of the diverse range of people unique to the Paralympics."

Police said two operators and five passengers on the bus at the time were not injured.

Kitazono, who was expected to make a full recovery within two weeks, was competing in the 81kg judo class for B2 athletes. B1 is for those with total blindness and B3 those with low vision.

A spokesperson for the Japanese manufacturer said: “We would like to express our sincerest apologies to the individual that was injured due to this unfortunate collision and we wish them a speedy recovery.

“We would also like to apologise for any inconvenience caused to those who use our mobility vehicles in the Athletes’ Village.

“All operations of the e-Palette are currently suspended. We are fully cooperating with the police investigation into the incident in order to determine the cause of this accident. In addition, we will conduct our own thorough investigation.”

Toyota bought US ride-share company Lyft’s autonomous vehicle program earlier this year and promised to press the e-Palette into commercial operations “within the next few years.”

While last week’s collision with the athlete occurred at very low speed, the high-profile incident is a major embarrassment for the company.

Autonomous vehicles are being touted as game-changing high-tech mobility devices that will reduce 90 per cent of collisions, but car-makers are still struggling to make them able to deal with random events that can and will continue to occur on roads.

Toyota has in the past admitted that autonomous driving technology is better suited at least initially to commercial vehicles including trucks.