Saitama Institute of Technology is developing the first private university to drive an autonomous bus that can run on public roads. On August 2019, 8, a public road demonstration experiment was conducted at "17 Sakado / Natsuyosakoi".
Saitama Institute of Technology established the "Autonomous Driving Technology Development Center" as a research organization under the direct control of the President in April 2019 with the aim of researching and developing advanced autonomous driving technology in Japan.We are working on issues such as the development of welfare vehicles with autonomous driving functions, research on autonomous driving technology utilizing advanced AI technology, and practical AI education on the subject of autonomous driving.As part of this, we are also focusing on the development of self-driving buses.
The autonomous driving bus being developed by Saitama Institute of Technology is based on the microbus "Liesse II" and is equipped with "autonomous driving AI", and is characterized by full-scale utilization of AI technology for autonomous driving.It runs not only on bus lanes but also on public roads, with a view to commercialization.Using open source software (Autoware) for autonomous driving systems, which is becoming more widespread, we have strengthened the function of identifying and classifying obstacles using AI.By deep learning the image information of the rider and camera, the surrounding environment can be recognized by AI and driving can be done while avoiding obstacles.
So far, it was opened to the people concerned at the test drive event of the autonomous driving bus held on August 2019, 8, but this time "1 Sakado / Natsuyosakoi" is the first time to open it to the general public.At the event, we actually carried the general public back and forth between about 2019m of Sun Road at the north exit of Sakado Station on the Tobu-Tojo Line.In the future, Saitama Institute of Technology will participate in demonstration experiments in various regions and promote the development of highly practical buses in response to social needs.
