Toyota Resumes Self-driving e-Palette Pods in Tokyo After Hitting Paralympic Athlete

A few days back Toyota temporarily suspended Paralympics self-driving buses after Japan’s Aramitsu Kitazono was left with cuts and bruises after being hit by the e-Palette vehicle at the athletes’ village, but starting today it resumed the use of its self-driving buses, e-Palette Pods, at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

Aramitsu Kitazono, was not severely injured but was forced to drop out of the Games’ judo event on Saturday and the incident prompted a public apology from Akio Toyoda, Toyota’s Chief Executive: “We are very sorry that the accident has made many people worried. A vehicle is stronger than a person, so I was obviously worried about how they were. It shows that autonomous vehicles are not yet realistic for normal roads.”

As part of its sponsorship of Tokyo 2020, Toyota has been showcasing its autonomous vehicles via a shuttle service, which has been running around the clock in the athletes’ village. On Thursday, however, one of the buses pulled away from a T-junction and drove through a pedestrian crossing while Kitazono, a visually impaired athlete, was walking across.

Tokyo police said that vehicle operators had told them they “were aware that a person was there but thought [the person] would [realize that a bus was coming] and stop crossing the [street]”, according to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

The Japanese car manufacturer temporarily suspended the self-driving bus service and apologized for the “overconfidence” of the self-driving vehicle. “The vehicle’s sensor detected the pedestrian crossing and activated the automatic brake, and the operator also activated the emergency brake. The vehicle and pedestrians, however, came into contact before it came to a complete halt,” Toyota said.

According to a Toyota spokesperson, operators will now control how fast the buses travel, and each vehicle will now have two safety staff members looking out for pedestrians. Improved safety features also require e-Palette warning sounds to be turned up and busy crossings to be manned by 20 pedestrian guides — up from 6. Toyota also said that safety improvements would continue to be made on a daily basis.