{"id":168941,"date":"2025-02-14T14:46:01","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T05:46:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/?post_type=news&#038;p=168941&#038;lang=en"},"modified":"2025-02-14T14:46:01","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T05:46:01","slug":"munakata-city-begins-autonomous-bus-trial","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/news\/munakata-city-begins-autonomous-bus-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Munakata City Begins Autonomous Bus Trial to Address Driver Shortage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Munakata City has launched an autonomous bus trial to tackle the region\u2019s growing driver shortage, driven by an aging workforce and stricter labor regulations in 2024. The bus runs a two-kilometer route between Jiyugaoka Community Center and JR Akama Station, carrying up to 13 passengers. Operating at Level 2 autonomy, the bus is equipped with 13 cameras and 14 sensors, with a maximum speed of 35 km\/h. A driver remains onboard for safety. The trial, offering free rides to local residents, runs until February 18 with five round trips daily. Munakata City aims to implement the system by fiscal year 2027 after evaluating the trial results. <\/span><b>Source: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www3.nhk.or.jp\/fukuoka-news\/20250213\/5010027130.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NHK<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-168943\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/fnn_munakata-automatic-bus_2025_cl.jpg?resize=1400%2C798&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Munakata City Begins Autonomous Bus Trial to Address Driver Shortage\" width=\"1400\" height=\"798\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/fnn_munakata-automatic-bus_2025_cl.jpg?w=1400&amp;ssl=1 1400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/fnn_munakata-automatic-bus_2025_cl.jpg?resize=300%2C171&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/fnn_munakata-automatic-bus_2025_cl.jpg?resize=1024%2C584&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/fnn_munakata-automatic-bus_2025_cl.jpg?resize=768%2C438&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stay informed with the latest Fukuoka &amp; Kyushu news and events in English. Sign up for our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">free weekly newsletter <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">today and never miss a beat. Opt out anytime, your privacy is our priority. Get the inside scoop with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Now<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Summaries based on public content, errors may occur during translation. Images credited independently. Send feedback using <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/contact\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">this <\/span><b>form<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Munakata City has launched an autonomous bus trial to tackle the region\u2019s growing driver shortage&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29305,"featured_media":168945,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"class_list":["post-168941","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","location-munakata","news-category-general","en-US"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/168941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29305"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168941"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}