Japan trials driverless cars in bid to keep rural elderly on the move

Residents get off the Robot Shuttle, a driverless, self driving bus developed by Japan's Internet commerce and mobile games provider DeNA Co, during a trial in Nishikata town, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan recently. — Reuters

NISHIKATA, Japan: As the annual rice harvest begins this month in the Japanese town of Nishikata, the combines that usually putter along the sleepy roads lining its rice fields are giving way to a vehicle residents have never before seen, a driverless shuttle bus.

Japan is starting to experiment with self-driving buses in rural communities such as Nishikata, 115 km (71 miles) north of the capital, Tokyo, where elderly residents struggle with fewer bus and taxi services as the population ages and shrinks.