Nissan Japan is working with DeNA the tech company involved in various digital fields including online gaming, AI and automotive, to develop and commercialise robo-taxis.
In a field test recently, both firms successfully deployed Nissan vehicles in Yokohama to pick up participants and traverse the streets in cars equipped with autonomous driving technology along a set route. The route spans about 4.5 kilometers between Nissan’s global headquarters and the Yokohama World Porters shopping center. The robo taxi were equipped with efficient fleet operation system and were watched over from a remote monitoring center.
By using, a dedicated mobile app, passengers can input what they want to do via text or voice and choose from a list of recommended destinations. An in-car tablet screen will show selections of nearly 500 recommended places of interest and events in the vicinity. To encourage more riders to take the service, discount coupons for retailers and restaurants in the area are offered for download on the users smartphones.
Nissan and DeNA will also work to develop service designs for driverless environments, expanded service routes, vehicle distribution logic, pick-up/drop-off processes and multilingual support. The companies aim to launch Easy Ride in a limited environment at first, and then introduce a full service in the early 2020.
