Tokyo - Japan, with its long history of automotive engineering and related pioneering technologies, has for many auto insiders globally been the predominant go-to hub when it comes to exploring the ever-competitive and seemingly perpetual evolution of next-generation transportation technology.
The concept of autonomous or driverless cars is nothing new, but the reality of such cars hitting the roads in vast numbers is quickly becoming a realistic vision.
Honda chairman Fumihiko Ike has noted that the industry is now under a great deal of pressure from the Japanese government to perfect self-driving systems. The government wants to showcase Japan's next-generation technology at the the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, by transporting athletes from the airport to the Olympic village in driverless vehicles.
And while Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe said last week the government would make the necessary legal adjustments and prepare infrastructure for companies to provide self-driving transportation services in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, not all concerned parties are beaming with optimism about the potential arrival of such technology.
“I've been driving taxis in and around Tokyo all my life,” said veteran cab driver Shichiro Wada, 59. “The idea that jobs like mine may become obsolete if Japan starts mass-producing of driverless cars is both unsettling and somewhat unbelievable.”
‘NOT ALL DECISION ARE OBJECTIVE’
Wada said he found it hard to believe that when it came to driving, a robot could react to all the variables in play better than a human.
There was a degree of subjectivity or creativity involved in driving and reacting to situations that could be potentially dangerous.
“On the one hand I can see how driverless cars may be the future of transport in Japan and around the world, but taxi drivers like me who are highly-skilled at what we do, have very few accidents and can make right decisions couldn't be replicated by a robot or a computer.
“I've been driving so long that I know intuitively what a car in front or pedestrian on the pavement is going to do,” Wada explained, adding that he could even anticipate when a child was away from its parent or a dog or cat was suddenly going to bolt into the road.
“All of these scenarios have happened to me countless times, and because I'm human, with intuition and perception honed through years of experience, I can react intuitively; I’ve definitely avoided fatal accidents in the past.
“I doubt that robot technology or Artificial Intelligence systems are advanced enough to take over from human taxi drivers.”
CUSTOMER SERVICE
Saitama-based taxi driver Goro Okamoto, 62, agreed. “Regardless of the potential for computer-based autonomous driving systems to fail in the same way conventional computers do, or internet-connected vehicles to go offline as major servers crash or, more worryingly, are hacked by nefarious organisations, the customer service that taxi drivers provided, including small talk when the customer is in the mood, or recommending shops and restaurants due to local knowledge, could be replicated by a machine.
“The service we provide is a huge part of the job. We have to read the customer's body language and make decisions about conversations, the temperature inside the car, and even what speed to drive,” the veteran cabbie explained.
“All it would take is for a few driverless cars or taxis to be involved in serious accidents, be it the computers' fault or other human drivers' fault, and the whole industry could fail,” he said.
“Perhaps the way forward is for automakers and tech companies here to focus their attention and resources on better radar-assisted vehicles that provide warnings and can even slow a car if it's approaching another vehicle or obstacle too rapidly or closely, or goes off the road if a driver nods off,” Okamoto added
Both cabbies agreed that if driverless taxis started to threaten their livelihoods, there would certainly be a collective revolt of some kind, and they wouldn't simply sit back and accept being ousted from work by robots.
LIVE TESTS
But one company seems on track to making sure that such technology moves from being science fiction to science fact. Tokyo-based firm Robot Taxi would start live tests of its autonomous cabs in March 2016, its chief executive Hiroshi Nakajima confirmed this month.
He said the company, a joint venture between mobile Internet pioneers DeNA and robotics firm ZMP, was aiming to add its robot technology to existing vehicles, rather than building them from scratch, in a move that could be a game-changer as the immense production costs of autonomous vehicles are, for some companies, financially prohibitive.
While in the short-term eyeing Japan's rapidly aging population who may live in rural areas and find it hard to make short local trips and offering an autonomous, easy mobility solution, Nakajima is envisioning thousands of his driverless taxis being in service in Tokyo by 2020, stating that as the population continues to age, the number of taxi drivers will also dwindle.
Nakajima is also looking to attract new consumers by offering a cheaper service.
“When you look at manned taxis, 70 percent of the fare is actually related to labour costs. If we can replace that part with artificial intelligence, I think we'll be able to provide a very attractive price point,” he said.
But on hearing this news, Wada remained unfazed.
“I think the majority of customers will still choose to be driven by a human, even if robot taxis do appear on the roads. And regardless of whether or not robot cabs will be cheaper, people are happy to pay to be driven. Yes, it's hierarchical, but it's also about human interaction. Even if a customer doesn't want to chat, being in the presence of another human is an essential interaction in itself and this can't be replaced by a robot,” he said.
Xinghua
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