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The Japanese car manufacturer Toyota Motor Corp. has taken all its driverless buses out of service in the Olympic Village in Tokyo, the company itself announced on Friday, according to Reuters.
The decision comes in the wake of an incident on Thursday, where one of the so-called e-Palette buses collided with and injured a visually impaired athlete who participates in the ongoing Paralympic Games.
In a YouTube-video The company’s chief executive, Akio Toyoda, apologized for the incident and said he had offered to meet the injured person, but that it had not been possible.
“A vehicle is stronger than a person, so I was obviously worried about how he was doing,” he said, answering questions about the incident.
Toyoda stated that the accident showed the difficulties for a self-driving vehicle in operating under the special conditions of the participating village during the Paralympics, where there are people with visual impairments or other disabilities.
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“It shows that autonomous vehicles are not yet realistic for ordinary roads,” he said.
The vehicle had stopped at an intersection and was about to turn under manual control by the operator, who used the car’s joystick control, when the vehicle hit the athlete at a speed of between one and two kilometers per hour, Toyoda said.
He further said that representatives of the Paralympics had told him that the athlete, who was conscious, was taken to the participating village medical center for treatment and was able to return to his accommodation.
According to the plan, the athlete in question will compete at 10:30 local time on Saturday.
Investigating the cause of the accident
The E-Palette bus, a fully autonomous battery-powered electric vehicle, was specially adapted for use during the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo, with large doors and electric ramps to allow groups of athletes to get on board quickly.
Toyota said it is working with a local police investigation to find the cause of the accident, adding that it will also conduct its own investigation.
In its statement, the Japanese automaker said it would continue to coordinate closely with the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games to prevent further incidents.
Organizers of the Paralympics Games were not immediately available for comment.
The Paralympic Games began on Tuesday in Tokyo, although Japan is struggling with its worst corona outbreak, with daily record cases and an overwhelming medical system, and will run until September 5.(Terms)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and / or our suppliers. We want you to share our cases using a link, which leads directly to our pages. Copying or other use of all or part of the content may only take place with written permission or as permitted by law. For additional terms look here.
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