Dynamic Map Platform Co., Ltd.
BIPROGY Inc.
NEXT Logistics Japan, Ltd.
Yamato Transport Co., Ltd.
Four companies, Dynamic Map Platform Co., Ltd. (Head office: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; CEO & President: Shuichi Yoshimura; “Dynamic Map Platform”), BIPROGY Inc. (Head office: Koto-ku, Tokyo; CEO & President: Noboru Saito; “BIPROGY”), NEXT Logistics Japan, Ltd. (Head office: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; CEO & President: Yukio Umemura; “NEXT Logistics Japan”), and Yamato Transport Co., Ltd. (Head office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President: Yutaka Nagao; “Yamato Transport”), have been selected through an open call by NEDO (the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization) as organizations to implement the “Autonomous Driving Assistance Lanes” project. This project is part of the “Digital Infrastructure Development Project for Digital Transformation of Industries/R&D for Infrastructure for Advance Implementation of Digital Lifelines” project. The four companies will form a consortium to develop a data coordination system to support autonomous driving, aiming to streamline work and optimize resources.
The companies plan to carry out field testing for this project in FY2024 to enable level 4 autonomous driving trucks to drive on the Shin-Tomei Expressway (between Surugawan-Numazu and Hamamatsu SA).
■ Background and aims of selection
The Ministry of Economics, Trade and Industry is exploring the “Digital Lifeline Development Plan,” which will create new social infrastructure known as “digital lifelines” across the whole country using digital technology, with the goal of solving social issues and developing industries through the digital field. Within this, the construction of Autonomous Driving Assistance Lanes is an early harvest project, requiring the creation of infrastructure for measures such as collaborative transportation and delivery and the use of autonomous driving trucks for logistics.
This project hopes to create digital infrastructure that will make it possible to coordinate data between multiple companies and industries. This will be achieved by developing a data coordination system to support autonomous driving and providing the data sets needed for functions common to the work of each business. The aim is for the infrastructure created to be used not only in the logistics field, but also more broadly in diverse mobility areas.
■ Project initiatives
The development of a data coordination system to support autonomous driving by a four-company consortium
· Dynamic Map Platform: Development of a data coordination system for autonomous driving operations
Working with all the businesses involved in the project to create Autonomous Driving Assistance Lanes, the company will develop a data distribution system that enables the processing and connecting of the different types of data needed for autonomous driving operations. It will also distribute information that combines Dynamic Map Platform’s 3D map data and different types of information from existing transportation information providers, roadside infrastructure, and vehicles, and develop a system (a “vehicle information coordination system”) that supports safe travel for autonomous driving vehicles.
· BIPROGY: Development of near-miss information sharing system using simulations
BIPROGY will create a catalog of scenarios that can be used to develop autonomous driving systems by obtaining information about near-misses from vehicles and external systems, and turning this into simulations. It will also develop an environment for generating driving environment models and simulations.
· NEXT Logistics Japan and Yamato Transport: Development of logistics service data coordination system
The two companies will develop a collaborative transportation system that makes it possible to coordinate data from the timetable plans and route plans of transport companies, created based on the demand for transportation by cargo owners. By verifying the coordination between this system, the data distribution system, and the vehicle information coordination system, they will also prove that logistics services are more efficient thanks to the introduction of autonomous driving and data coordination.
■ Introduction to the companies that make up the consortium
Dynamic Map Platform Co., Ltd.
Dynamic Map Platform Co., Ltd. was established through an “all-Japan system” with the backing of the Japanese government and Japanese companies, including 10 automobile manufacturers, working in unison. Headquartered in Japan, it has group companies in America, Germany, South Korea, and the Middle East, and currently employs around 300 staff members (across the world). As the operator of a platform for High-Precision 3D data that reproduces the physical world in digital space, Dynamic Map Platform supports innovation in many different industries and fields.
Website: https://www.dynamic-maps.co.jp/index.html
BIPROGY Inc.
BIPROGY Inc. changed its company name (trading name) from Nihon Unisys, Ltd. on April 1, 2022 with the aim of realizing its new purpose as a company that creates social value. The BIPROGY Group paved the way for today’s information society with Japan’s first commercial computer, and in the 60+ years since then, it has solved customer issues and created systems that support society and businesses as a system integrator. With experience and achievements as its backbone, BIPROGY will accelerate its initiatives with various partners to create new value that will enrich society and to solve social issues, and become a company that creates social value. As one of these initiatives, V-Drive Technologies, a BIPROGY Group company, is providing the DIVP® Simulation Platform, a platform to evaluate the safety of autonomous driving.
* DIVP is a registered trademark of Ikutoku Gakuen
Website: https://www.biprogy.com/
NEXT Logistics Japan, Ltd.
Most of the founders of NEXT Logistics Japan were members of the Toyota Group, who created the company with the aim of solving social issues in logistics. To accomplish this, the company has worked with partner companies engaged in capital participation and a wide range of shipping companies and logistics businesses to promote the creation of schemes for highly efficient transportation, including NeLOSS, a logistics optimization solution system. The company aims to realize sustainable logistics and further promote its initiatives by linking its high-load operations to autonomous driving technology.
Website: https://www.next-logistics-jp.jp/
Yamato Transport Co., Ltd.
Yamato Transport Co., Ltd. has a logistics network that extends across Japan, and provides logistics services such as courier deliveries. As times have changed, the company has contributed to the “realization of a prosperous society” through transportation. Yamato Transport has been working on its Mid-Term Management Plan “Sustainability Transformation 2030 ~1st Stage~” since April 2024, and aims to become “a value-creating company that contributes to the realization of a sustainable future.” With innovation as its starting point, the company will create “new logistics” and “new value” with its diverse partners, facing the challenges of the future head on.
Website: https://www.kuronekoyamato.co.jp/