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| Toyota discontinues self-driving e-Palette |
Toyota Motor Corporation said that the day after a car collision injuring a visually impaired athlete, all autonomous electronic pallet incubators were suspended in Tokyo's Paralympic Village.
In a YouTube video, Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda apologized for the accident and said he offered to meet the person. But there is nothing he can do.
When asked about the accident, he replied: A car is better than a person. So obviously I'm very concerned about his condition.
Toyoda added that the accident showed that it was difficult for self-driving cars to drive with people with visual impairments or other disabilities in special circumstances in the village during the Paralympic Games. This shows that self-driving cars are not yet ready for normal roads.
Toyoda said the automated shuttle service stopped at a T-junction and was about to be manually controlled by the operator. Who uses a car joystick when the car hits an athlete at 1 or 2 km/h?
He explained that the Paralympics officials told him that the athlete is still awake, and he has been sent to the athlete's medical village for treatment and he can return to his home.
The Electronic Transport Incubator was specially developed for use during the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo.
The e-Palette is a modular, autonomous, battery-powered electric vehicle without traditional controls such as steering wheels or pedals, with electric gates and ramps that enable athletes to get up quickly.
Toyota discontinues self-driving e-Palette
The company said it was cooperating with local police investigations to determine the cause of the accident, adding that it was conducting its own investigation.
The Japanese automaker said in a statement that it will continue to coordinate closely with the Tokyo Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games to avoid further accidents.
The 2020 Paralympic Games began in Tokyo on Tuesday. Japan is battling its worst outbreak of the coronavirus, with record daily cases and an overwhelmed medical system.
Toyota operated dozens of electronic pallet buses during the Olympics. As a proof of that elusive concept, the company debuted it in 2018.
The automaker said at the time that the electronic pallet could be used as a mass transit shuttle or as a mobile sales area.
Toyota sees the Olympics as an opportunity to showcase its new technology. A few months before the start of the Summer Olympics, Olympic athletes and staff were on the road with freight cars.
A spokesperson confirmed that the e-Palette service has been suspended due to the outage and was unable to reveal when it will resume. This does not mean that the full electronic range used in the games has been discontinued, the spokesperson said.