I think that is a bit of a trope if somewhat true one. Thing is that Toyota and all of the other Japanese car companies are invested in self driving and have been pumping money and buying/investing/contracting every ML related shop they can get their hands on in Tokyo to work on it. I recently talked to a guy who just finished his PhD focusing in NLP, started a company trying to do some clever autonomous agent app, got given bunch of cash to work on self driving instead(not by Toyota)
Japan has some unique advantage for go to market self driving cars. Japanese highway system is MUCH MUCH simpler to deal with then US one. If Toyota or Nissan or whoever can come up with a system that can drive you from Tokyo IC to wherever on Honshu following highways(mostly 2 lane, clearly marked, meticulously maintained..) this is going to be a huge deal. And few of them do have the whole thing mapped out.. we do know that.
Is Waymo might win.. RIM also seemed unassailable as was Nokia.
Driving on highways is quite expensive in Japan - it's fact generally more expensive than trading the shinkansen. Driving within cities is a different thing.
It depends, but yes it is not free. It is however quite cheap if you have a full car. So for example anyone going for weekend with family, highway is cheap and is MUCH faster then normal roads.
Japan also has a developed highway rest areas, you will often see people sleep in the car there, often whole families in vans that been outfitted for it. There is washroom, restaurants, sometimes shower and even hot spring, they are also clean, might have local produce being sold, alcohol etc
Here is a priceless use case for a salaryman from Tokyo. Get off work, get drunk with coworkers, get in the car with family at 10pm on friday. Car delivers you to the closest michi-no-eki to a ski resort and parks itself. Wake up at 6-7am, get to the resort by opening lift, grab breakfast at conbini drive to resort. There are lots fo places less then an hour off highway. Being able to sleep and being driven on highway would be incredible.
Company that delivers that feature in the family van will destroy competition until they can duplicate it.
If you're solo yes, once you're two people it tends to be on par, 3 or more car is cheaper. Every family I know owns a car. The highways are full of cars and trucks.
Japan has some unique advantage for go to market self driving cars. Japanese highway system is MUCH MUCH simpler to deal with then US one. If Toyota or Nissan or whoever can come up with a system that can drive you from Tokyo IC to wherever on Honshu following highways(mostly 2 lane, clearly marked, meticulously maintained..) this is going to be a huge deal. And few of them do have the whole thing mapped out.. we do know that.
Is Waymo might win.. RIM also seemed unassailable as was Nokia.
reply