A Nissan Serena minivan glides through Yokohama’s crowded streets, its steering wheel turning by itself while pedestrians in Japan do double-takes at the empty driver’s seat.
Armed with an impressive array of 14 cameras, nine radars, and six LiDar sensors, this rolling laboratory represents Japan’s determined effort to close the gap in a technological race where American and Chinese competitors have taken an early lead.
“We understand cars better,” asserts Takeshi Kimura, an engineer at Nissan’s Mobility and AI Laboratory, explaining why traditional automakers hold a crucial advantage in developing truly integrated autonomous systems. This confidence comes despite Japan’s surprising lag in self-driving technology — a field where Silicon Valley’s Waymo and various Chinese startups have established commanding positions.
The competitive landscape is shifting quickly. Waymo will enter Japan this year through a partnership with cab company Nihon Kotsu, deploying electric Jaguar I-PACEs with human supervision in Tokyo. Meanwhile, Nissan plans to position 20 autonomous vehicles around Yokohama within two years, aiming for fully driverless operation by 2030.
For aging Japan, these self-driving vehicles aren’t just technological showcases — they’re potential solutions to the nation’s critical driver shortage and shrinking workforce. Other domestic efforts include Tier IV’s open-source autonomous driving platform and Toyota’s futuristic testing “city” near Mount Fuji, where various mobility technologies undergo real-world trials.
Yet cultural barriers present unique challenges. “In Japan, the expectation for commercial services is very high,” explains University of Tokyo Professor Takeo Igarashi. “Even a small mistake is not acceptable.” This perfectionism, combined with murky questions about liability when accidents occur, creates additional hurdles for driverless deployment in Japanese society.
Nissan counters safety concerns by highlighting the advantages of 360-degree sensor coverage—something no human driver can match. During a recent demonstration, the vehicle safely handled a system failure by simply coming to a controlled stop.
Industry expert Phil Koopman from Carnegie Mellon University cautions that truly autonomous driving will require extensive real-world experience to handle “edge cases” — those rare but potentially dangerous situations computers haven’t yet encountered. He predicts a gradual, city-by-city rollout requiring specialized engineering for each location.
As Koopman soberly notes, “There is no magic switch” to suddenly enable fully autonomous driving. But with Nissan’s steady progress, Japan’s autonomous future is finally accelerating into view.
See more: Japan’s Nissan tests driverless vehicles in city streets filled with cars and people
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