Eiheiji Town, Fukui Prefecture, Panasonic team up to test autonomous EVs

Eiheiji [Japan], Nov 14 (ANI): The Eiheiji Town Government, the Fukui Prefectural Government and Panasonic Corporation announced that they have jointly started a field test of an experimental autonomous electric vehicle on Eiheiji Mai-road in the temple town in western Japan.

The field test of Panasonic's autonomous driving EV commuter, which started on October 3, 2017, will continue to the end of March 2019.

Eiheiji Mai-road is a walking trail spanning about six kilometers and created on the former railroad track of the Eiheiji Line, once operated by Keifuku Electric Railroad Co., Ltd. The Fukui Prefectural and Eiheiji Town governments have been receiving subsidies from the national government for regional revitalization, using the funds to improve the road and creating an environment for field testing the autonomous driving EV commuter.

This field test aims to verify how autonomous cars can be used effectively to cope with local issues and needs, such as offering public transport services after the railroad line is abandoned.

Thus far, Panasonic has verified its autonomous driving technologies on an in-house driving test course (Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture) and the company premises in the Keihanna district (Seika-cho, Soraku-gun, Kyoto Prefecture) and the Kadoma district (Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture). This is the first time for Panasonic to test its autonomous driving system in an environment equivalent to a public road. Panasonic also aims to verify how autonomous cars can be used effectively on a commercial basis in the future.

Panasonic and the Fukui Prefectural and Eiheiji Town governments will cooperate to improve the autonomous driving technologies and achieve new mobility services that will contribute to communities.

The autonomous driving EV commuter is deployed on Eiheiji Mai-road to test autonomous driving technologies and identify technical issues, such as positioning of the vehicle and camera detection performance in various environments. Tests are also being done on obstacle avoidance and braking to prevent collision with pedestrians entering the road suddenly from the roadside, along with assessing the operation of the vehicle management system using cloud servers

The autonomous driving EV commuter will be deployed on the entirety of Eiheiji Mai-road to test the autonomous driving technologies and commercialise mobility services.

While Fukui Prefectural and Eiheiji town governments need to mprove Eiheiji Mai-road,communicate and coordinate with communities along Eiheiji Mai-road and relevant organisations, and identify issues, Panasonic needs to evaluate the autonomous driving system (in-vehicle system) and server system and identify issues. (ANI)

This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI