Saitama Institute of Technology and Fukaya Kanko Bus Co., Ltd. will be involved in the NHK Taiga drama "Reach Beyond the Blue Sky" from February 2021th (Tuesday), 2 to January 16th (Monday), 2022. The "Shibusawa Eiichi Rongo no Sato Circulation Bus", which was automatically driven as a foot for visitors to the area, has ended. The total operating distance for 1 days reached about 10 km (98 km).

 At the start of operation, the Saitama Institute of Technology's self-driving minibus (Liesse II), which acquired the green number as the first commercial vehicle in Saitama Prefecture, will run.After that, from April 2021, 4, a large self-driving bus newly developed by Saitama Institute of Technology was introduced.Initially, autonomous driving was carried out only for a section of about 30km in the course with a total length of 28km, but development was continued during the period, and the driving section of autonomous driving was gradually expanded.

 In November 2021, all lines of 11km except for some sections became capable of automatic driving, achieving the top class mileage in Japan as an automatic driving bus for commercial operation.In collaboration with industry, academia and government, the two companies will utilize the self-driving bus as a foothold for tourists visiting the village of the Analects, and will continue to develop self-driving buses to meet the challenges of local traffic conditions. Deployed automatic driving.

 Shunichi Uchiyama, President of Saitama Institute of Technology, said, "Our university has aimed to contribute to society through the development of advanced technology. We recognize that the successful completion of the autonomous driving of about 1 kilometers in a little less than a year is an unexpected achievement. " 

 Saitama Institute of Technology's automatic driving bus is characterized by being able to travel on public roads at legal speeds with general vehicles by actively adopting AI technology and utilizing the experience and know-how that has participated in many demonstration experiments all over the country.It switches between automatic driving by the system and driving by the driver immediately and smoothly, and drives safely according to traffic conditions.

Reference: [Saitama Institute of Technology] "Shibusawa Eiichi Rongo no Sato Circulation Bus" Achieved a total of approximately 1 km of autonomous driving

Saitama Institute of Technology

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Starting in April 2025, the Faculty of Engineering will be reorganized into three departments and 4 majors, including a new major, making it possible to study in a more contemporary way. In the "Ganbaru! Student Project" supported by the university, students can take the lead in group activities. In addition, we will collaborate with companies and local communities, such as test runs of self-driving buses.

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