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Mobility Working Group (15th)

Last Updated:

Overview

Date and

Tuesday, March 24, 2026, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

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On-line

Agenda

  • 1. Opening
  • 2. Agenda
    • (1) Progress of Initiatives to Eliminate the "Transportation Vacuum" (MLIT Policy Bureau)
    • (2) Report on the investigation project of "Transportation Trading Company function"
    • (3) Technological trends in the logistics field
      • "Status of Measures for Formulation of the Next Comprehensive Logistics Policy Outline" (Logistics and Motor Vehicles Bureau, MLIT)
      • Self-Driving Truck Business Ecosystem (Fundamental Members)
      • "Social implementation of self-driving trucks" (T2 Co., Ltd.)
    • (4) Outline of Mobility Roadmap 2026 and Future Schedule
    • (Exchange of Opinions)
    • (5) Progress of Measures by Government Ministries and Agencies Stated in the Mobility Roadmap 2025
    • (Exchange of Opinions)
  • 3) Closing

Material

Minutes

Assistant Prof. Misumi: We will now begin the 15th meeting of the Mobility Working Group. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to attend the Working Group today. I am Misumi from the secretariat, and I will chair the meeting today. I look forward to working with you.
First of all, about the administrative notice, today's meeting will be held in a hybrid format with online.
Online participants are kindly requested to keep their cameras on at all times during the meeting and to unmute their microphones when speaking. Please mute your microphone when others are speaking. Audience members are also requested to turn off their cameras and microphones. Please note that audio recording will be used to share the minutes within the secretariat and to prepare the minutes.
Next, I would like to confirm the materials. As stated in the agenda that was sent in advance, Materials 1 to 9 are the list of attendees. If there is anything missing, please contact the Teams chat function or the secretariat by email. Due to time constraints, today's attendee introduction will be replaced by the distribution of the list of attendees in front of you. Also, State Minister for Digital Transformation Imaeda is scheduled to participate from the middle of this time.
Now, in opening the working group, I would like to have a greeting from Chief Uno. Chief Uno, please start.

Chief Uno: Good morning. Thank you very much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to participate in the Mobility Working Group today. I would like to say a few words before the meeting begins.

In the previous meeting, the 14th Mobility Working Group deliberated on a proposal for the selection of regional projects for pioneering commercialization.
On March 6, we announced the selection of 13 areas. I believe that we will enter a phase in which the support measures of each ministry and agency will be intensively applied to these areas to produce results.
Once again, I would like to thank everyone for their valuable opinions on this selection. Today, as per the proceedings, first, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism will explain the progress of measures to eliminate the traffic vacuum, and then the secretariat will report on the survey project of function, a traffic trading company.
After that, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Basic Constituent Members, and T2 Inc. will explain technology trends in the logistics field. Since logistics is a field that forms the foundation of industry, I believe that the social implementation of autonomous driving in the logistics field is an extremely important issue as a solution to various issues such as labor shortages, so I would like you to discuss it from a wide range of perspectives.
In addition, Mr. Digital Agency will explain the draft outline of the Mobility Roadmap 2026 and its schedule, and representatives from each government agency will explain the current status of the Mobility Roadmap 2025 measures.
I look forward to hearing your frank opinions, as well as those of the ministries and agencies concerned. Thank you very much.

Assistant Prof. Misumi: Thank you very much.
As you can see from the agenda, we have five major items on the agenda today. Regarding the exchange of views, I would like to conduct it in two parts, after the first four items and after the last item.
Then, I would like to move on to the agenda. Material 2 The Policy Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism will explain the progress of the efforts to eliminate the "traffic vacuum". Thank you.

Manager of Star Mobility Service Promotion Division (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism): This is the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Policy Bureau. Thank you for the opportunity. Today, first of all, I would like to introduce the progress of the efforts to eliminate the traffic vacuum.
Regarding the situation surrounding regional transportation, as I have explained through now, the shortage of bus drivers continues to cause the discontinuation of bus routes. Although there have been some inconveniences in daily life, demands are expected to increase further due to the promotion of a new regional healthcare initiative in Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and the planned consolidation of elementary and junior high schools in Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) is making efforts to shift to a sustainable system by creating a Public-Private Partnership platform and providing various forms of accompanying support in order to eliminate the transportation gap by fiscal year 2027.
We expect that the Public-Private Partnership Platform will eventually grow into the Public-Private Partnership Platform for autonomous driving, and about half of the local governments across Japan have participated so far, and we are supporting the efforts of various regions, including the local transportation bureau.
Here at the Public-Private Partnership Platform, as we move forward with the pilot project, we will share our know-how. In addition, we will support matching various businesses with local governments, develop various solutions, and share the results.
The number of members of this platform is growing steadily, thanks to you, and I feel that these principles and initiatives are steadily spreading.
Based on this situation, as I mentioned earlier, the situation will become more severe due to the consolidation of schools and hospitals, so it is necessary to further promote the creation of a system. Last year, the Council compiled a report with the revision of the Regional Traffic Law in mind.

The first keyword is collaboration and collaboration. We have made one pillar of promoting collaboration and collaboration beyond the barriers of administrative, municipal, or prefectural governments. And the second is that there are local governments with weak finances, and it has been legislated that they can utilize external organizations to promote collaboration. In addition, in order to respond to wide-area transportation needs, some administrative associations, wide-area federations, and prefectural governments will be able to participate as the main body of public ride-sharing with certain requirements. In order to promote these collaboration and collaboration, data utilization is very important, and we plan to legally require transportation operators to provide data, and local governments will comply with the rules and put into practice a transportation system that utilizes data.
The summary was announced on December 26, but we plan to immediately receive a Cabinet decision on the actual bill on March 10 and submit it to the ordinary session of the Diet. I think it will probably be deliberated by the Committee on Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism from around mid-April, but we will make full use of the matters I just mentioned, including joint operations, cooperative operations, and local resources beyond sectors. Or we will revise the law to promote mutual cooperation, such as utilizing each other and supporting medical care and school operations.
In this way, laws and regulations will establish a mechanism for collaboration and cooperation, and will also stipulate data-compliance obligations. I would like you to keep this in mind.
I hope you will take a look at the A3 Punch Picture, which describes and publicizes the matters I just mentioned. The left half is to promote joint use by making full use of local resources.
This time, the Regional Traffic Law also imposes a duty to make efforts to cooperate on entities such as hospitals, schools, and commercial facilities. In the past, school buses, hospital pick-up and drop-off services, and nursing care pick-up and drop-off services were provided separately, but we will make a stipulation in the direction of integrating these services and demand and reconfiguring them into an optimal form to ensure stable supply.
In addition, we plan to conduct a stipulation of a collaboration promotion organization to promote collaboration beyond administrative bodies to promote such a system. We hope that you will also take a look at it.
The following pages are reference materials and illustrations, so please take a look if you have time. We are also introducing various examples.

On the next page, it is necessary to develop a digital platform related to data utilization for social implementation. From this perspective, we have launched a project called "COMmmmONS (Commons)," a regional transportation DX, since last fiscal year, and I would like to introduce some of the results of this project today. We are promoting the standardization of data in various areas and the standardization of operations themselves to create a system that can respond to the age of autonomous driving.
On the next page, we refer to it as "commons," and we are actively promoting the use of digital technology in order to spread the idea that mobility is a common property of society as a whole. In this way, while creating best practices and promoting standardization, we have become overly fragmented, which is called silos, and we believe that this is a hindrance to business creation and market expansion. If we do not connect this, we will not be able to transition to an autonomous driving society, so we have standardized the fragmented services, data, etc., and created a system that allows everyone to cooperate and collaborate. We promoted 21 projects in 4 areas, but today, I will introduce only the main ones, and this is one of the exits to the issues that have been discussed in the working session. Regarding the project to promote the sharing of resources for transportation to and from local facilities, both drivers and vehicles were scattered in care facilities, hospitals, schools, and tourist facilities, and transported separately. Under such circumstances, it has become very difficult to provide transportation smoothly, including securing drivers, so we have developed a system to integrate supply and demand in a smooth manner and have started to implement it in five regions nationwide.
In this way, we will reduce costs by promoting standardization in various fields, realizing data linkage, and promoting automation and labor saving. For example, in the bus service, 40% of personnel expenses are spent on back-office personnel expenses. If we can automate this with AI, we believe that the profitability and cost structure of the transportation service will be greatly transformed, and the level of service will change.
This year, we prepared a prototype, version 1.0 or something similar, and moved on to the phase of improving quality while actually implementing it.
From the next fiscal year, we plan to expand the related budget and immediately proceed with the implementation of the supplementary budget.
Specifically, we have prepared a budget for the transportation gap with four pillars, but in particular, we have newly established a section called "Regional Transportation DX Promotion Type." Major bus operators, taxi operators, and vendors across Japan are working very positively, and I think that the transition from these areas to an autonomous driving society, modernization through dataization, and the creation of a system that automatically makes comprehensive adjustments to supply and demand will be implemented.
Thank you very much for your time. I hope to have further discussions with you. I look forward to working with you.

Assistant Prof. Misumi: , Thank you for your explanation. Next, KPMG Consulting will explain Document 3 "Transportation Trading Company function's Research Project Report, etc." Thank you.

Mobility Working Group Secretariat Yamanaka: I will explain from Yamanaka.
Regarding the structure of this document, we have organized our thoughts on the future compilation of the Guidelines based on the opinions and discussions we have received so far. I would like to explain in line with this flow.
Page 4 is a table that summarizes the opinions and discussions that we have received so far.
Looking back on the discussion briefly, in addition to the opinion that "the scope and purpose of the consideration of the transportation trading company function should be clarified" as in A, the opinion that the viewpoint of "utilizing existing local resources and creating demands to realize a sustainable business model" as described in B is important.
For C, the importance of "perspectives on environmental development such as human resource development and wide-area collaboration to support business."
Finally, in D, we received an opinion such as, "How about organizing the traffic trading company function from a perspective other than factor analysis and population?"
Based on the opinions received, we are considering the "Proposal for the Direction of the Compilation of the Traffic Trading Companies function Guidelines" as a secretariat proposal, and we will explain in order.

On page 5, first of all, I have organized the overall picture of the discussion so far, and I will explain the contents.
It's on page 6. This page shows the contents of the discussions related to function, a transportation trading company, in the past years and the main points to be considered in this year's survey.
Based on the concept of "Transportation Trading Company function" set forth in the Mobility Roadmap 2025, we have two main points to consider this year.
The first point is that in addition to the traditional role of "bundling supply and demand," we have newly clarified the perspective of "bundling resources." This is because we believe that seeking diverse resources will become more important in the future for sustainable regional transportation.
The second point is that in order to realize such bundling, we are considering detailing specific transportation trading companies such as function. Regarding this, in addition to desktop research, we have also conducted interviews with actual businesses and local governments, and based on the facts happening on the ground in the region, we have organized it.
On page 7, based on the contents of the study I mentioned earlier, the overall picture supporting regional transportation is shown.
The function will effectively utilize limited supply capacity by combining the various transportation modes shown in the lower part of the page. The function will also combine the various needs shown in the upper part of the page and connect supply and demand. The function will secure the money necessary to implement these function groups from multiple aspects. And the environmental development such as human resource development and digitalization to support regional transportation, which you have mentioned in the discussions so far, is shown on the left. In order to implement these function groups in the regions, we have organized the need for integrated support as a concept diagram of the overall picture.
Page 8 summarizes the main points of today's discussion.
At the 13th Mobility Working Group, the secretariat explained the proposed classifications of function, a traffic trading company, using mapping and other methods, and received opinions from the members.
In organizing the traffic trading company function this time, while taking into account your opinions, we emphasize whether it is an easy-to-understand guide for local governments and related parties, who are the main readers of the assumed guidelines, to solve their own problems. In organizing the case study, we are aware that we can refer to "What kind of approach did you make to other local governments?"
I would be very grateful if the members of the Council would provide us with a variety of opinions based on this perspective.

Next, from page 9, I will explain the results of the investigation of similar cases by function, a transportation trading company.
This is page 10. In this case study, we set a population of about 1,700 local governments across Japan, and gradually narrowed down the regions that could be specific examples of traffic trading company function.
Based on the three requirements, eight areas were selected as the subject of the in-depth survey for the final interview.
The eight regions shown on page 11 were selected. The population size and issues faced by public transportation vary, and we are aware of the variations in issues and initiatives, making it possible to compare how Transportation Trading Company function is being implemented under different conditions.
On page 12, the issues faced by each region are arranged from the perspectives of demand, supply, and funding.
As I mentioned earlier, the guidelines are organized on the assumption that the readers of the guidelines, who are related parties such as local governments, will refer to examples that are close to the issues faced by their own communities.
Page 13 summarizes the demand-side approaches that Transportation Trading Company function is taking in response to the issues faced by each region.
For example, in terms of demand, efforts are being made to tap the latent demand of the elderly.
On page 14, we provide a similar review of our financial strategies.
In many local governments, in addition to the local government budget, a combination of multiple financial resources such as joint investment by private companies and corporate version of hometown tax donation. There were also cases where various ideas were used, such as diverting the budget of local governments for welfare projects other than transportation.
Pages 15 to 19 are excerpts of actual community research cases, so I will omit the detailed explanation here.

From page 20, we will explain the results based on the case studies so far.
Please refer to page 21.
In this proposed categorization, we adopted the idea of organizing function, a transportation trading company, based on the issues faced by local governments. This is because it is difficult to cover and define strict trends and mapping with the axes such as population size and population density shown by the previous working group, due to the limited number of case studies.
Therefore, based on the situation of your own region, we have prepared an organization as a flow to judge which case pattern should be referred to.
To be specific, the flow is to first check whether there is room for adjustment of transportation supply capacity based on the size of the local government and other factors. As a practical matter, when considering optimizing supply and demand, if there is little room for adjustment of supply capacity, what traffic trading company function can do will be limited to some extent. This is a reality that has come to light as a result of the case study. However, this is not a negative bifurcation by any means, but a bifurcation from a practical perspective of "aiming to implement traffic trading company function that matches the local situation." Such a bifurcation will be Pattern A.
"Next, we defined the branch from the perspective of" "whose transportation issues we want to solve." "The classification is intended to be a guide for those who want to respond to the mobility issues of vulnerable road users such as the elderly, commuting to work or school, and tourism demand."
Using the concept of this classification, it is intended for local governments to objectively organize their own situation and think about "which type we are close to" and "which example should be referred to first." However, it is assumed that one local government may fall under more than one classification, so it is also assumed that it can be used flexibly.

The last section is about the success factors in the implementation of Transportation Trading Company function in the area.
It is page 23. Based on the challenges and response approaches of the surveyed local governments, success factors are extracted and systematized as Key Success Factors (KSF).
I will not explain the details of each survey case here, but there is no single success factor, and there is a background that regional initiatives are established by overlapping multiple elements of "organization and system," "business model," and "data and digital tools."
On page 24, the KSFs mentioned earlier are arranged by issue type.
By sorting out "which KSF is particularly important" for each issue such as insufficient demand, excessive demand, insufficient supply, and insufficient funds, we are conscious of a configuration that enables local governments to grasp what they should focus on first according to their own issues.
On the 25th page at the end, the characteristics of KSF are arranged according to the ABCs that I classified earlier of the traffic trading company function.
For example, in Pattern A, the solution-oriented type in which local residents cooperate with each other, it is suggested through case studies that an important KSF is that efforts make great progress by acquiring business operators who are partners working together on local issues.
As you can see, in Patterns B, C, and D, we have organized the important KSF.
Finally, I would like to repeat myself, but in this guideline, through the arrangement of these, I would like to provide information in an easy-to-understand manner for people concerned such as local governments to think about "which issues are faced in their own area, which type they are close to, and what success factors they should be aware of," and I would like to compile it for the purpose of promoting the implementation of function, a transportation trading company, in the area in the future.
That's all from the office.

Assistant Prof. Misumi: Next, in order to share technical information in the logistics field, three people will give presentations. First, Material 4 "Status of Response to the Formulation of the Next' Comprehensive Logistics Policy Outline'" will be explained by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's Logistics and Motor Vehicle Bureau. Thank you.

Takada, Director of the Physical Distribution Policy Division (MLIT): , Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). I would like to explain the status of our response to the formulation of the next "Comprehensive Physical Distribution Policy Outline." It says that this is at the direction of the Prime Minister, but since 2024, there have been concerns about the stagnation of physical distribution due to long working hours and other restrictions. For this reason, the Council of Relevant Ministers was established in March 2023 and has been considering policy packages and other matters. At the 6th Ministerial Meeting in March 2025, we received instructions from the Prime Minister to promptly begin consideration of the formulation of the Comprehensive Physical Distribution Policy Outline toward fundamental innovation such as optimization of overall physical distribution, productivity improvement, and autonomous driving, positioning the period up to fiscal 2030, when the transportation capacity shortage is becoming more serious year by year, as a "period of intensive reform" of physical distribution innovation. In response to this instruction, we established an expert panel in May 2025, which held about nine discussions. Based on the report compiled on March 3, we are currently making final adjustments with the aim of making a Cabinet decision at the end of the fiscal year. The first Comprehensive Physical Distribution Policy Outline was in 1997, and this is the eighth plan, which has been revised every five years as a voluntary plan. The fundamental members of the panel, who will explain after this meeting, are serving as the chairman of the panel and leading the discussions.

I will give you an overview of the contents of the Guidelines. The upper box on the left is about the current situation and issues facing Japan's society and economy as a whole, such as population decline, shortage of workers, digitalization and innovation. Regarding the current situation and issues surrounding physical distribution, as the second red dot on the right, it is necessary to specify and deepen measures to maintain the necessary physical distribution function amid the worsening shortage of workers in the "intensive reform period" of physical distribution reform until FY 2030. And the policy direction based on these will be the bottom row. In addition to ensuring the sustainability of logistics for the future, it is necessary to maximize the potential of logistics as a growth engine for Japan and as a service with a high public nature. Based on this recognition, in the next section, I will classify them into five perspectives, and I will promote measures with responsibility and determination so that all parties concerned can work together to open up the future of logistics and make a further leap forward over the next five years. This is what I have stated in my resolution. Although logistics tends to be viewed as a cost, we aim to transform it into a more high-quality and attractive industry by rethinking it as a service that creates new value. Five pillars are listed as policies that should be addressed in the future. The first is service supply constraints. In light of the shortage of drivers and the need to improve the productivity of the transportation industry, it is important to improve the efficiency of logistics. The second is the review of business practices with the revision of various truck-related laws in mind and the behavioral change of shippers and consumers. The third pillar is related to human resources, such as improving the status and capabilities of logistics personnel and improving the working environment. The fourth is the promotion of logistics standardization and logistics DX / GX. The fifth pillar is to make supply chains more sophisticated and resilient in response to the increasingly severe international situation, natural disasters, and other situations. Regarding autonomous driving, which I have highlighted as the first person on this issue, you have clearly described autonomous trucks and automated distribution roads to promote automation and labor-saving in logistics networks. With this in mind, we have prepared a self-driving truck implementation support project as a supplementary budget for fiscal 2025. The purpose of the project is to support one to-many remote monitoring and other demonstration costs for freight transportation using LV4 self-driving trucks on expressways, as well as part of the operating costs in the first year toward early social implementation. This includes the cost of introducing vehicles, the cost of developing and improving logistics bases, and the cost of building and improving systems. Since the subsidy rate is less than 1/2, we have a support menu. We will work to promote its early implementation in society while utilizing such measures. That's all.

Assistant Prof. Misumi: . Next, regarding Appendix 5 "Business Ecosystem for Autonomous Trucks," I would like to ask you to explain the business model and ecosystem for autonomous trucks. Thank you very much.

Root member: I would like to comment on Keiai University. I would like to offer a topic on the business ecosystem of self-driving trucks. As you just explained, I mentioned self-driving trucks in the Comprehensive Logistics Policy Outline. In the previous Comprehensive Logistics Policy Outline, there are only a few lines about self-driving trucks, but this time I devoted more than half a page to what kind of policy should be developed.

Among them, the key keywords are "① We should consider the practical use of automated driving with semi-trailers, etc.," "② The public and private sectors should consider the business model," "③ The system should be reviewed," "④ We would like to establish the driving method of LV4 automated driving in the section to the logistics facility outside the expressway," "⑤ We should strive for smooth coordination between automated driving trucks and transportation modes such as cargo, ports and airports," "⑥ We should formulate standards for road-vehicle coordination systems such as merging support and look-ahead information," and "⑦ We should organize standard data formats to promote the utilization and coordination of truck data recorded in automated vehicles and digital operation recorders in order to realize one to-many operation by remote monitoring and centralized movement management among multiple operators."

First of all, I would like to introduce an overseas example. A Chinese company, Pony. ai, has obtained a license for driverless follower platooning and is aiming to commercialize it. Long-distance truck transportation in the country is an attractive market, so they have established their own distribution company and are considering outsourcing transportation. They have also adopted autonomous driving strategies based on AI, achieving highly safe driving without relying on expensive 3 d maps. They have also achieved human-level judgment using low-cost sensors, i.e., low-performance sensors, based on AI.
Next, it is said that Aurora, an American company, was the first in the world to successfully operate LV4 autonomously on public roads in April last year. Currently, Aurora owns and operates tractors, but in two years it will focus on developing and providing services for autonomous driving technology. As a policy for developing autonomous driving technology, we have adopted the Verifiable AI, which combines rule-based constraints and machine learning. We also publish a very easy-to-understand safety report.

When we think about the business ecosystem of self-driving trucks, we have sorted out the business models of self-driving software companies, which is the first element. Currently, Aurora has adopted and commercialized the "Transportation as a Service (TaaS)" model, which is written at the center of this. In other words, we have logistics operators carry trailers to Aurora's terminal with manually driven tractors, Aurora replaces them with self-driving tractors, and then the logistics operators come to pick up the trailers after long-distance transportation by self-driving. In two years, we will change it to this "Driver as a Service (DaaS)". In other words, we plan to make self-driving tractors as cheap as possible and have logistics companies own self-driving tractors. This will allow logistics companies to pick up and deliver with their own self-driving tractors. Aurora's idea is to focus on remote monitoring and regular maintenance of self-driving tractors.
On the other hand, Pony. ai is also considering DaaS, but since the long-distance truck transportation in China is attractive, they are also considering signing a transportation contract with the shipper themselves, and collecting and delivering the cargo by themselves. They are considering a system that does not require a logistics company.

As I just explained, Aurora has no choice but to replace tractors at (1)'s switching base because Aurora owns tractors and cannot run in areas where 3 d maps are not available, so it is necessary to replace them. In that sense, I think the direct-coupled autonomous driving realized by Pony. ai is a more advanced and advanced form. As an example of (3), TRUNK, a Chinese company, has introduced autonomous trucks at its advanced automated terminal in Tianjin port, where unmanned gantry cranes unload cargo from container ships and automatically load it onto trucks that come to collect cargo. In that sense, I think it is important to smoothly link autonomous trucks with transportation modes such as cargo, ports, and airports. In short, if logistics operators own tractors and evolve to realize autonomous driving with 2 d maps, and if they can run off expressways as the Operational Design Domain (ODD), eventually there will be no need for switching bases.

In addition, I think it is necessary to review the system. At present, we are requesting the construction of a safety assurance system by examining the safety of three laws, the Road Transportation Vehicle Law, the Road Traffic Law, and the Road Transportation Law, which are similar to each other, although from a slightly different perspective. However, unlike buses and taxis, trucks operate across multiple prefectural and district transport bureaus, so it is necessary to apply to the Public Safety Commission of each prefecture and each district transport bureau. Don't you think it is necessary to reconsider?
Next, regarding the business ecosystem, there are two types of long-distance trucks: one is the truck of a business operator such as Yamato Transport, and the other is a chartered truck that transports a specific shipper. Due to time constraints, I will explain the business ecosystem for the former case. The key point is the establishment of an autonomous driving support service company that will be entrusted with the operation management of autonomous trucks. Many truck operators will run on the Shintona Expressway using trucks from different truck manufacturers, but I think it will be difficult for a truck operator to independently manage operations, remotely monitor, and provide rush support across multiple prefectures. In addition, a base for switching from manual operation to autonomous driving will also be necessary for the time being. It will be necessary for the time being because the Japanese government basically recognizes expressways as ODD. Even in that case, it will be difficult for each logistic business operator to establish a base independently, so I think it should be established as a public terminal that is shared by many logistic business operators. The Basuta-shinjuku is a facility shared by bus companies, but more than 1,500 buses come and go each day, and I think a joint terminal of that scale will be needed in about 10 years.

Next is the standardization and disclosure of data for remote monitoring. As described in the middle part, in Europe, six Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) formulated the Fleet Management System (FMS) standard. After that, partly because digital tachographs became mandatory, the remote FMS (rFMS) standard, which enables FMS to be used via the Internet, was created, and a market for third party operation management services was formed. Truck operators can entrust their data to a third party and receive various operation management services, regardless of whether it is a truck of Company A or a truck of Company B. In the United States, although there is no FMS standard, truck data and sockets were standardized by the exhaust gas inspection system. Then, an Electronic Logging Device (ELD), which is a machine that manages the operating time, equivalent to a digital tachograph in Japan, was made mandatory, and the ELD manufacturer played the role of a third party and said, "We will import various OEM data and provide operation management services and health management services," and a market is being formed. Truck data has been disclosed in both regions. Although a remote monitoring service for autonomous driving has not yet been realized, the data is said to be readily available. However, in Japan, although there is awareness of the need to do something for the use case of remote monitoring of autonomous driving, we are proceeding with the standardization of only the minimum items necessary for that. For example, the fuel consumption, which I think is the most important, "I have not loaded so much, the tire pressure is normal, but the fuel efficiency is 10% worse," which is the most important data related to vehicle health management, is planned not to be disclosed.

In addition, Japan is trying to develop a mechanism to support merging on the main expressway by constructing a road-vehicle cooperative system. However, as far as we can see in the US and China, it can be realized without any information provided by the road side. I do not deny the usefulness of the road-vehicle cooperative system, but it will require a considerable amount of investment on the infrastructure side, so it will be important to clarify the cost-effectiveness and to consider a mechanism for how to share the cost with autonomous vehicles.

In the last slide, as institutional and technical issues for commercialization, we summarize the current business constraints and business ecosystem issues in Japan. The red part of this right-hand side issue has been explained so far and will not be repeated, but in the second service supply system, "TOTOKU" goes back and forth from its own terminal near the expressway to another terminal, and since it can use self-driving trucks 24 hours a day, it is assumed to be owned by the company (DaaS). Since "chartered" uses the expressway by collecting goods from the shipper and running on the general road, it is a little questionable whether we can use self-driving trucks at a high utilization rate, and we think that it may be possible to entrust the operation of trailers on the expressway to a third party (TaaS).
That's all from me. Thank you very much.

Assistant Prof. Misumi: Thank you very much. Mr. Kumabe, Representative Director and CEO of T2 Co., Ltd., will explain Appendix 6, "Implementation of Autonomous Trucks in Society."

T2 Co., Ltd. Mr. Kumabe: Regarding initiatives for tractor-trailers in T2. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to explain today. First of all, regarding the company profile, our company was established in 2022 by a joint investment of Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and Preferred Networks, which is engaged in AI development. There are several autonomous driving related companies in Japan, but our company's characteristic is that we not only develop autonomous driving systems but also provide trunk line transportation services using vehicles equipped with the system. We believe that it is the fact that it is the two wheels of technology and businesses. Currently, we have 224 employees, of which about 60%, or about 130 people, are engineers. Our shareholders participate in 21 companies representing each industry listed here, and bring their knowledge and know-how to support us as business partners.

Next, I will explain about business development and technology development. The Company's vision is to utilize the LV4's autonomous driving technology to jointly support Japan's world-class logistics. As a limited area of LV4, in our case, the expressway is the target, and in both normal and emergency situations, the system becomes the driver rather than a human being. By realizing transportation using these LV4 self-driving trucks, we are working to secure transportation capacity and reform logistics, including decarbonization. Of course, these changes cannot be achieved by Marubeni alone. We would like to strongly cooperate with the shareholders and companies I mentioned earlier, existing players in the logistics industry, the government, and truck manufacturers, and together support the logistics of this country. The next page will be the image of the business we want to realize. We talked about the basic constituents earlier, but what we are drawing is First, our company's truck will go to the cargo consolidation base of each shipper to pick up the cargo. After that, we will head to the switching point. The switching point is where you switch between manned and unmanned operation, and where the driver gets out of the truck. From there, it will be transported by LV4's automatic operation, unmanned on the highway. At the switching point at the destination, drivers again get on trucks to transport products to the customer's collection point. We are currently preparing to start this service between Kanto and Kansai in fiscal 2027. In the ultimate form, the switching base and the consolidation base will be united. In other words, when the distribution facility directly connected to an expressway interchange, which is currently under development, is completed, it will be possible for self-driving vehicles to circle the expressway without having to drive on a Shitamichi. On the next page, we started commercial operation of the LV2 last year, and plan to start trunk line transportation with the LV4 in fiscal 2027. After that, we will expand the number of units and areas, and we hope to operate around 2,000 units by 2032. With the LV2 self-driving truck, we have been in verification test with about 40 companies from a wide variety of industries. We are preparing for LV4 by working on the demonstration of transporting various forms of loads such as beverages, food, building materials, chemicals, and roll paper. In parallel with this demonstration, we commercialized a trunk line transportation service using LV2 self-driving trucks for the first time in Japan last year and started "commercial operation" between Kanto and Kansai. Actually, we operate 3 services a day on weekdays, taking care of your luggage and collecting the fare. We started with five major logistics companies as users, and the number of companies using this regular service has expanded to nine. In order to operate transportation businesses using these self-driving trucks, function such as setting up bases, remote monitoring, and maintenance will be required, and we would like to create a new form of distribution together with leading companies in each industry. As an example, Mitsubishi Estate and Tokyu Fudosan are developing the logistics facility directly connected to the interchange you saw earlier, and KDDI is remotely monitoring and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance is rushing to the scene to respond in the event of an abnormality. This picture on the next page is the self-driving vehicle we are developing. The Group has deployed a total of 25 sensors, including LiDAR and radar, and has developed in-house software for recognition, judgment, and control necessary for autonomous driving. Last year, we succeeded in traveling about 500 kilometers from Kanagawa to Kobe, which is the longest distance in Japan, and I think we were able to create a transportation record between Kanto and Kansai. Recently, there have been a few cases in which drivers have had to temporarily switch to manual driving while holding the steering wheel, such as in construction sections on expressways. We are developing and implementing new automated driving technology that can handle such situations.

From the next page, regarding the social implementation of self-driving trucks, as the fundamental members mentioned earlier, the development and social implementation of self-driving technology are progressing overseas. This map shows the amount of funds raised by overseas companies based on our company's aggregation of some published figures. A fairly large amount of money is listed, but the current situation is that the United States and China are ahead in social implementation. The situation is a little different for taxis and trucks, but hundreds of billions of yen have been invested, and self-driving taxis have already been commercialized in some areas in the United States. As for trucks, unmanned commercial service of the LV4 is scheduled to begin in 2027. "Although our business is limited to the expressways between Kanto and Kansai in Japan, we still need a certain amount of capital for technology and business development." At present, we have received investments mainly from our business partners, but in the future, when we continue to solicit investments from other companies and venture capital firms, the fact that we are "supported by the government" will be a major factor in our decision to invest, so we would like to ask for your continued support. Regarding fund procurement, we have received a total of 11.5 billion yen in investments, mainly from business partners. It started with a Series A and is now in talks with companies for a Series B funding. On my last slide, I would like to say that we have been working closely with the Government of Japan and have received support from various ministries and agencies toward the realization of automated mainline transportation. It covers many themes, including the development of the autonomous driving system itself and communication technology, discussions for obtaining approval, and the utilization of switching bases for commercialization. Going forward, we would like to ask for your support for the development of autonomous vehicle technology and the maintenance of the environment in which autonomous vehicles operate, as well as your support for the specific timing of the start of the business. In particular, at the initial stage, the number of units is small and it is expected to be a difficult situation in terms of profit, so it would be very helpful if you could support us in terms of operation costs such as fuel and highway fees. In addition, with the aim of supporting Japan's logistics by utilizing this autonomous driving technology, we are working with partner companies and communicating to society through our own public relations activities. However, in order to improve social acceptability, we would be very grateful if many people in society would be aware of the government's goal of "10,000 automated service vehicles in 2030," for example. That's all for my explanation. Thank you very much.

Assistant Prof. Misumi: Let's move on to the next item on the agenda. Please refer to Handout 7.

Deputy Director-General . It is the draft outline of the Mobility Roadmap 2026. First, I would like to summarize the current situation and issues. As for 1., I would like to introduce the background to the formulation of the Mobility Roadmap 2026 and the status of autonomous driving technology in other countries, including the United States and China, as mentioned earlier. I would also like to explain the status of autonomous driving technology and the current status of mobility services in Japan, including the current status of L4 and the status of its demonstration, and then the outlook for future autonomous driving. As for 2., which is an overall issue of mobility services, which will lead to the content related to traffic trading company function, I would like to summarize demand-supply issues and technical issues.

As the second big chunk, we have introduced various major initiatives in fiscal 2025 so far, but first, I would like to include the contents of the report on the results of the survey of good examples for 1. Transportation Trading Company function. Then, as for 2., the commercialization of autonomous driving services, I also introduced this in the working group. We have selected 13 areas for pioneering commercialization, but we have not actually moved on it yet. Various examples of initiatives and challenges for commercialization have been included, so I would like to touch on the contents of the initiatives for commercialization from these proposals. As for 3., as for other initiatives related to autonomous driving, I also introduced in the previous working group that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has established the Headquarters for the Realization of an Autonomous Driving Society and is considering them. Also, in Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, I introduced in the previous working group the initiatives of the "Next-Generation ITS Communications" Study Group for the autonomous driving era. Since then, the Road to the L4 initiative has been progressing for several years, so I would like to touch on the contents here.

The third group of measures is necessary. The first is to respond to issues related to the spread of function, a transportation trading company, and I would like to explain the details of what we should work on in the future. The second is the commercialization of autonomous driving services, and I believe that initiatives in the area of pioneering commercialization will lead to this, so I would like to summarize what we will do in the future. The third is various support measures for the implementation of autonomous driving technology. As for future initiatives by each ministry and agency, I would like to summarize what we can do in the areas of spreading business models, developing necessary technologies, and, as T2 mentioned earlier, improving social acceptability. That is all.

Assistant Prof. Misumi: Next, I would like to explain the schedule from now on. See Exhibit 8.

Deputy Director-General . After the discussion today, the 16th meeting will be held. One of the agenda items is the status of the sub-working groups. A sub-working group has been established to consider the social rules for autonomous vehicles in the AI era, and I would like to explain the status of its efforts. I have also introduced the outline of the Mobility Roadmap 2026, but I would like to have more specific details before the next meeting. Also, the 7th meeting in Meeting for the Promotion of a Digital Society will be held around early June. Last year, the Mobility Roadmap 2025 was announced on June 13, and I would like to have the final draft of the Mobility Roadmap discussed and announced targeting this period. That is all.

Assistant Prof. Misumi: . Next, I would like to move on to the exchange of opinions. First of all, we have received comments from Prof. Okamoto, Prof. Mori and Prof. Wakana, who are absent today, so I would like to introduce them.

It is from a member of Okamoto.
(Regarding P. 8/P. 25 of Document 3)
Centered on function, a transportation trading company, as shown in the Mobility Roadmap 2025, not only demand and supply capabilities, but also the idea of "bundling resources" has been added and the function and other details have been divided, which I believe are very useful contents. Regarding KSF on page 25, successful cases are summarized in individual cases in eight regions. Regarding the profitability of KSF (2), I think that the perspective of sharing KSF and issues in the cases in eight regions and achieving "cost reduction" by molding "travel demand creation" and "supply operation" can be a point of contention for the future mobility WG.
The conceptual diagram on page 8 illustrates the necessity of combining resources, demand, and supply capabilities. However, there are other resources that can be used commonly in different regions. It would be beneficial to combine these resources. "Resources" here means, for example, places where people gather, such as convenience stores, places where energy and information are gathered, such as substations and gas stations, human resources involved in the operation and maintenance of vehicles, and various data related to the region. In the future, in addition to "resources," "demand," and "supply capabilities," it may be worth considering combining these resources that exist in different regions.

Next, it's from Mr. Mori.
(Document 3)
Regarding the traffic trading company function, there is no sense of incongruity in adding the idea of "bundling resources" proposed by the secretariat, but on the other hand, the image of function held by so-called "trading companies" seems to be different.
When considering the Mobility Roadmap 2026, we would like to ask you to consider not sticking to the name "Transportation Trading Company" but choosing a name that is easy for related parties such as local governments and transportation operators to imagine.
(References 4 to 6)
<Approval for automated driving>
In the case of an automatic truck driving service, it is expected that the service area will be spread over a large number of prefectures, compared to buses and taxis whose service area is relatively limited.
For example, it is hoped that National Police Agency and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (related to the District Transport Bureau) will respond firmly at the ministry level so that there will be no wavering in the approval response policies so that there will be no consultations from operators who say, "The response policies differ depending on the Public Safety Commission."
<Development of Autonomous Driving Technology for Semi-trailer Type>
As the fundamental members have pointed out, it is important that semi-trailer type self-driving trucks are developed in Japan for the self-driving truck business ecosystem to be viable in Japan, and I would like to ask for the necessary support to realize it.
Importance of Nodes Between Automatic Operation and Manual Operation
In order for self-driving trucks to be implemented in society, it will be important to develop hubs for self-driving / manually driven trucks and nodal points with cargo collection and transshipment ports. For example, self-driving trucks are assumed to operate mainly on highways such as expressways, but it is necessary to have a "land function" function along the highway as a base for switching between self-driving / manual tractor heads and as a base for collecting and distributing the loaded cargo. I am also aware that the Chinese function of Tianjin has achieved near-automatic container distribution by combining port loading and unloading facilities, horizontal transport by truck, and an integrated AI system. In compiling the Mobility Roadmap 2026, I would like to ask you to consider how to develop and realize it by sorting out the ports and requirements required of nodal points and sharing the roles between the public and private sectors.
Standardization of Digital Tacho Data
Regarding truck and digital tacho data, while data has been standardized and the operation management service market has been formed in Europe and the United States, it is strange that a mechanism for sharing information has not been formed in Japan even from a global perspective. In standardizing, it is important that truck operators can also use it for efficient operation.

It is from member Wakana.
(Regarding P. 4 of Document 3)
It was clearly stated that the purpose of the discussion of Transportation Trading Company function was "commercialization of autonomous driving," and I think the positioning of Transportation Trading Company function became clear. If so, this analysis should not analyze and organize the "success factors of Transportation Trading Company function," but should be based on the premise of "the possibility of introducing autonomous driving vehicles in the Transportation Trading Company-type region" and "the effects and challenges of transportation trading companies in introducing autonomous driving vehicles." I think that the establishment factors of transportation trading companies are described as "success factors" in the analysis of each case, but I think it is desirable to further add the benefits and challenges of introducing autonomous driving in transportation trading companies with such characteristics in the Mobility Roadmap 2026.
(Regarding Document 3 p. 8)
"Combining resources" is not about demand, but about supply. In addition, "matching supply and demand" itself is expected to be automated using AI, etc. Therefore, rather than "matching supply and demand", it would be better to include "automated vehicles and automation of matching (efficiency improvement?)" and put automated driving and automation of matching in the middle instead of flowing from top to bottom. I hope we can reach the point where we can draw something like a "value co-creation cycle" by matching supply and demand.

Assistant Prof. Misumi: , I would like to hear your opinions from the attendees. It will take about 3 minutes per person. When you speak, please let us know by clicking the Teams' show of hands button or chat function, and please unmute your microphone when you speak. Well, Mr. Akimoto, thank you very much.

Mr. Suzuki (Alternate: Mr. Akimoto): I am Akimoto of the Japanese Unmanned Vehicle Operation Management Consortium. Thank you for your explanation. I would like to ask two questions. Regarding Document 2, thank you very much for the explanation of the transportation gap from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. As a response to the transportation gap, I think the legislation of joint and collaborative efforts is a very wonderful initiative. By being able to do this, I think function, a transportation trading company, will be able to fully demonstrate its capabilities in the future. In the document, on page 10 of the slide, there is a picture showing that if the same car is used for various purposes, it will have to carry ordinary passengers, infants, people requiring nursing care, and so on. If that happens, I think there will be various challenges in sharing the car. Even in the pursuit of efficiency, I think it will be necessary to improve the car according to the characteristics of the user, such as ensuring the safety of the passengers, that is, the users. If such risk assessment is done together, I think that the use will advance.
Second, regarding the explanation by KPMG in Document 3, regarding the explanation of transportation trading companies, as Mr. Mori mentioned earlier, I would like to know what kind of business format is assumed. In particular, I think business formats will be considered from the perspective of profitability and public nature. If it is really profitable, a stock company is fine, and if it is not good at all, it will be a public project. I think there is something in between. Among them, whether it will be a cooperative, a concession system, or a designated management system. I think each local government will consider these in the future. If there is a business format that is desirable, I would like to know. That is all.

Mobility Working Group Secretariat Yamanaka: Thank you very much. I am Yamanaka from KPMG. Thank you for your comments and questions. How to grasp this business form is a major challenge in the survey of actual precedent cases. As you pointed out, profitability is a very difficult aspect depending on the local government, so I think it will be a phase of exploring not only a pure private form but also various forms such as a consortium with enhanced public nature. I hope to further consider it in the future, keeping that point in mind. That is all.

Assistant Prof. Misumi: , thank you very much. Next, Prof. Hidaka, please.

Mr. Hidaka: Thank you very much to everyone who made the presentation today. I cannot touch on each one, I will specialize in transportation trading companies, but I think it is common, including what I just mentioned from the logistics people. As I said to Mr. Digital Agency during the pre-review, I believe that there are some elements of improving the productivity of the social function for transportation trading companies as well as autonomous driving technology. From now on, when it comes to social implementation in local communities as an industry, I think we need to make definitions for each region, such as what is improved by including transportation trading companies and what is improved by including autonomous vehicles. I think that the concept of automatic driving is true, and both of them, including transportation trading companies, are very broad concepts. Therefore, unless there is a clear line drawn in the survey results or the next mobility roadmap material between what problem the technology is intended to solve and why the technology will continue to be developed and implemented in society, it is possible to repeat the cycle of "I will include it because it is popular" and "I will not do it if it is no longer available." I believe that clarifying this will be an opportunity to utilize the knowledge of these experts and guest speakers. For example, when we think about transportation, as you mentioned earlier about logistics, if there is a shortage of drivers, there may be various indicators that can be used as a guide for logistics, such as in terms of base km, how big an item can be, and how far it can be transported. It is not necessarily the case that the bigger the better. The figures may change in Japan, the United States, and China, but higher prices are more productive than lower prices, and if there are few drivers, a person can carry only 100 (t ・ km) a day, but by eliminating the transportation of goods, it is possible to carry 200 (t ・ km). We can make a very simple explanation that such efforts will be effective as a policy if there is a current shortage of drivers. There is also an element that transportation trading companies can solve the shortage of drivers by integrating the supply side. KPMG believes that this is a very in-depth study. By collaborating with medical institutions, we can match the users of medical institutions with the supply and demand of mobility services, and provide services without waste. Is this a matter of filling the gap between supply and demand? Is it a matter of integrating the supply side and increasing the transportation capacity per region with current resources? Or is it a matter of further exploring and revitalizing demand? I think you have really looked into various examples, but if the model formula is unclear, I think it will create complexity as to who should do what. As elementary and junior high school students can see, there is an initiative to aim for unmanned driving by remote monitoring because there are not enough people, and if they have to unload their luggage, they will have to intervene, so they have to separate it and make it into this business format. You talked a lot about logistics today, but I think now is the right time to create a model consciousness for transportation trading companies. I believe that Mr. Hoshi's efforts to eliminate the transportation vacuum are consistent with that, and although the time remaining may be short, I would like to ask you to increase that part. That's all.

Assistant Prof. Misumi: . Moving on, Prof. Kawabata, please.

Prof. Kawabata: Thank you very much. Thank you very much for your kind explanation and for putting together our scattered opinions.
On page 7 of Document 3, the part that KPMG summarized is very important, and I think this is the end of it. Bundling demand itself is a term that is not very familiar in Japan, but the idea of ride pooling is widespread in Europe. When we think about demand, including potential demand, and when we think about places like Japan, which have a certain level of infrastructure, demand for secondary transportation is important, and I think it is very important to try to match these areas. Also, regarding the supply-side, I think we talked a lot about distribution today, but looking at the population distribution around 2035, I think it's Mr. Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and some estimates show that the working population is less than the number of people in public officer. I wouldn't say that the supply-side is idle at the moment, but I was looking at this page as a very important suggestion in the sense that we should aim for the future so that supply and demand do not match and supply capacity does not double up somewhere. As the members mentioned earlier, if we do not explain this in a way that anyone can understand, I think we may end up in a situation where we are doing things on the ground because we have been told to do so by superiors. Therefore, in this discussion, for this purpose, we will introduce this kind of technology, and for this purpose, we will introduce this kind of system. That is what I am talking about clearly. However, as it spreads, the purpose may be only to introduce automated driving, or to establish a transportation trading company. I think it is important to convey in an easy-to-understand manner that we will recommend these things for this purpose, because there is a possibility that individual consulting response may not be possible due to labor costs, and human resources at traffic, construction and building sites are extremely limited, although I think that the issues faced by each basic local government are different after all as to what the purpose is. In a separate meeting with Mr. Digital Agency, I am on a committee to create a technology catalog on how to improve laws and regulations that hinder the introduction of technology. As a result of a conference called "RegTech" on how to link regulation and technology, an epoch-making event occurred in which an ace level person from a basic local government participated and the discussion at the central government was conveyed to the basic local government. I think such efforts will be necessary in the future. Digital has a direct impact on people's lives, and I think it will not be just a matter of legislation. As a summary of what we have done so far, I think the materials we have prepared this time are very well done, and I would like to see the addition of a section related to the dissemination of information. That's all.

Assistant Prof. Misumi: , thank you very much. Do you have any other comments? Mr. Suda, please.

Mr. Suda: I am Mr. Suda from Tokyo Institute of Technology, who is participating in . Thank you very much for your explanation. I have a lot to say and I would like to make a few comments. First of all, in Material 3 at the beginning, I mentioned that KPMG should include specific perspectives other than population, and I think it has become very easy to understand by proceeding in that direction. On the other hand, I think that I have lost sight of the subject of population, and I hope you will combine population and the model well.
In addition, regarding the distribution, the fundamental members introduced the ecosystem of the distribution business, which was very helpful. So, my question is to the fundamental members. You introduced the U.S. and China regarding platooning, but I recognize that Europeans were originally enthusiastic about it, and if you know about it, I would like to know about the situation in European countries. In both the U.S. and China, tractors and trailers are the main products, and I also think automation of tractors and trailers is important, so I would like to ask what T2 thinks. Finally, I would like to comment on the outline. I wrote an article titled "Building an ecosystem" in the Economics Class of the Nikkei Shimbun last week. I keep saying that the ecosystem of autonomous driving is important, but I think it would be good to see how the fundamental members find the ecosystem that has entered a new phase by receiving suggestions from the business ecosystem. Last time, I think Deputy Director-General Kubota of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism said that business will change with an end-to-end approach, and I think we must think about an ecosystem using this end-to-end approach. If we are to create a new mobility roadmap, I think it would be good if you focus on that and introduce it from the perspective of considering such matters rather than giving an answer right now. That's all from me.

Assistant Prof. Misumi: , thank you very much. Mr. Nemoto and Mr. Suda, you asked us about platooning in Europe. Could you answer this question?

Root member: I would like to comment on . Thank you for your question. When it comes to platooning, people are relatively less interested in platooning because each truck can run independently. I haven't looked that far into European countries, but looking at actual cases, I get the impression that many of them are single. On the other hand, Chinese people are promoting platooning. One reason is that when an LV four train verification test is made, the lead car is required to have a safety driver, who can take care of the whole platoon. To put it most simply, they can refuel. In China, it sometimes runs 1,000 km and 2,000 km, so a model of platooning with one person in the lead car may be a good way to do it. I thought there might be such an understanding.
Also, may I make a comment?

Assistant Prof. Misumi: Yes, please.

Root member: I would like to comment on Kotsu Shosha function. In the case of passengers, various efforts have been made in MaaS, etc., and I think it is relatively easy to match supply and demand. The reason is that public transportation is the main, timetables and fares are public, and passengers do not want to keep their destinations secret. However, in the case of distribution, shippers generally do not disclose their business partners, cargo contents, transaction volume, fares, etc., and distribution companies do not want to disclose where they have extra trucks. In distribution, it is difficult for function Kotsu Shosha to match supply and demand, and in the past, companies such as Internet / Web matching were established and almost failed. However, there are some models that I think are working well, such as coordination between one large shipper and many distribution companies, and a cargo coordination model between one large distribution company and many shippers. I think there are some cases where one to-many or many-to-one works well. It seems difficult in theory to collect and match distribution and distribution data like many-to-many at one time, and I would like Kotsu Shosha function to incorporate distribution by all means, but I would like to tell you that the premise is different from that of taxis and buses. That is all.

Assistant Prof. Misumi: , thank you very much. Then, Mr. Kumabe of T2, would you answer the question I asked earlier?

T2 Co., Ltd. Mr. Kumabe: Regarding initiatives for tractor-trailers in , I also think it is an effective measure considering the loading capacity of tractor-trailers. However, I think single-vehicle is the most common in the current trunk line transportation in Japan. The reason why we are developing single-vehicle is that there is a current situation where we can smoothly enter the transition from the current form of distribution. In the case of semi-trailer, there are cases where the base and route are limited. In the future, when large-scale bases directly connected to interchanges and such things are established, we believe that trunk-line transportation using tractor-trailers will be promoted, and we also plan to develop automated tractor-trailer vehicles for that purpose.

Assistant Prof. Misumi: , thank you for your answer. Regarding how to create an autonomous driving ecosystem, I would like to ask Deputy Director-General to answer.

Deputy Director-General 's comment, I cannot immediately answer how to make it, but I think it is an important viewpoint. I would like to include such a viewpoint in the draft outline or main body.

Assistant Prof. Misumi: , any other opinions? Member Muramatsu, please.

Member Muramatsu: Thank you for your explanation. Regarding Document 3, when compiling future guidelines, I would like you to describe the process of how to realize the use cases. It is assumed that it is basically unclear how to proceed based on the premise that there are many people who are unfamiliar with digital, what to do as the first step, and what kind of stakeholders to gather. It is assumed that there will be cases where the goal is indicated but the process to realize it is not known, and as a result, it cannot be advanced. Like a secret book, I think it will be easier to understand if we can compile guidelines that will enable any local government to understand "I see, how to proceed." That is all.

Assistant Prof. Misumi: , thank you very much. Now, Prof. Yamamoto, please start.

YAMAMOTO: I'm YAMAMOTO from ITS Japan. Thank you very much for explaining the whole document. I would like to share my comments on the social implementation of autonomous driving in Document 9. I think the materials explain everything in a very easy-to-understand manner, but I think the social implementation of autonomous driving requires the deployment of ITS infrastructure and the introduction of new mechanisms. This is mentioned in the report, but the smart pole is just one example. However, it is an issue we are facing that we need to finalize it in the form of automatic driving as a specific national specification, and I think it is an important point that we need to discuss especially between the manufacturer side and the government side. Thirteen pilot project areas have been selected, and I think various trials of autonomous driving will be conducted here from various perspectives, including technology development, service, and operation. Through these trials, we need to specify what kind of ITS infrastructure is required for autonomous driving and what kind of specifications are required for smart poles, and we need to conduct activities that will lead to standardization. I think that 4 out of the 13 advanced business areas are areas related to the development of smart poles or ITS infrastructure technology. I hope that we can make good use of this opportunity and draw a final answer as one of the results of the autonomous driving demonstration that at least these mechanisms and ITS infrastructure are necessary for the road environment where autonomous driving runs. Finally, I think there are two aspects to the infrastructure required for autonomous driving. One is the safety and prevention infrastructure that prevents accidents from occurring. The other is the infrastructure that contributes to reviewing, sharing responsibility, and preventing recurrence after an accident. In particular, for the latter, we will make good use of cameras to appropriately record the conditions in which an accident occurred, and we would like to promote discussions among industry, government, and academia to determine specifications with several goals for the ideal infrastructure. ITS Japan will sweat a lot, but we would like to ask for your support and cooperation. That's all.

Assistant Prof. Misumi: Thank you very much. Mr. Hanami, please start.

Member Saito (Alternate: Mr. Hanami): My name is Hanami from IPA DADC. I am attending today on behalf of Mr. Saito. First of all, I would like to thank you for the explanation of the materials and the progress in general. I would like to comment on two points from the perspective of data utilization as IPA.
The first point is that we should aim for the commonality of operations among various efforts. There were several points from the perspective of data utilization, but if we do not aim for commonality from the perspective of how people operate as a goal, it will be difficult to spread it to various regions. In the material of function, a transportation trading company, we will investigate the problems of each area, but I think it would be good to organize the common elements of each area. The commons initiative in the material of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism is not only data standardization but also the commonality of operations, which I think is a good initiative. The second point is that we, as IPAs, would like to contribute, but when we try to make a social system that utilizes data and connects systems to evolve them on page 7 of the material 3, each system has different players and types, so for example, there is a problem that whether the matching of supply and demand and the dispatch management system can be connected immediately. This is because each system is created independently on a different time base. Therefore, IPAs are working on a mechanism that allows each data platform to be linked later as a data space. It is difficult to explain, but I would like you to understand that it is a mechanism that makes it easy to connect platforms with each other at a reasonable price. I would like to contribute to the cooperation of such parts, and I would like to discuss it again. That is all.

Assistant Prof. Misumi: , thank you. Do you have any other comments? Mr. Hatano, please.

Mr. Hatano: In the area of distribution, the latest overseas trends were introduced by Mr. Nemoto and Mr. Kumabe. In particular, as I am in charge of the technology area of autonomous driving, what impressed me was not only that an independent self-driving car can do it independently, but also that in the area of distribution, in particular, the out-car area, which is a variety of resources and operations outside the car, has been developed in terms of technology, and I got the impression that technological progress and social implementation are progressing. Mr. Nemoto introduced the common infrastructure of the operation called FMS, and I think that in the future, when we implement autonomous driving in society, it is not only the in-car, but also the out-car technology, mechanism, and how to create a common infrastructure by considering all of these as a system is a very important perspective. As IPA and ITS mentioned earlier, if rule-making and infrastructure building from the perspective of digital networks and common infrastructure are included in the mobility roadmap, I feel that social implementation can be accelerated.
In addition, with Exhibit 9, I would like to thank you for carefully documenting the progress and background of the Mobility Roadmap 2025 with the relevant ministries and agencies so that I can understand the overall flow very well. That's all from me.

Assistant Prof. Misumi: . Next, let's move on to the next topic. Each ministry and agency will explain the status of each measure listed in the Mobility Roadmap 2025. Each ministry and agency Please do it within 2 minutes.

Deputy Director-General : I would like to explain Document 9. First of all, please refer to page 2 for the Digital Agency part. The establishment of "Transportation Trading Company function" and "Selection of Pioneering Commercialization Areas" have already been discussed many times in this working group, so I will omit them here. Please refer to page 4. As you know, autonomous vehicles are extremely expensive and there are major hurdles to purchasing them. Therefore, we decided to organize the issues in the Mobility Roadmap 2025 based on the challenge of whether we can effectively utilize the leasing scheme, and we have been conducting research and study. There are two major forms of leasing. One is a pattern in which leasing companies are involved, and the other is a pattern in which OEM-affiliated leasing companies are involved. In either case, it is difficult with single-year contracts, and it is important how to raise funds on the premise of long-term contracts. Subsidies are basically single-year in many cases, but the key is how to build a system that can be continued in the medium term without relying on subsidies. It is also important to have a system that allows third party operators to perform maintenance. It is realistically difficult for introduction and operation support operators to take charge of all maintenance, so many people said that this point also needs to be considered. Based on these perspectives, we would like to find the direction of the model to be built in the efforts to support driving in the 13 pioneering commercialization areas. That is all.

Assistant Prof. Misumi: , please.

Deputy Director-General Kawakami (Cabinet Office Office for the Promotion of Science, Technology and Innovation): There are four measures in Cabinet Office, . In Cabinet Office, there is an R & D system called the Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP), in which private companies, universities, and related organizations participate and advance R & D from basic research to social implementation. The SIP consists of a total of 14 issues, one of which is "building a smart mobility platform". Discussions are underway under the guidance of Ishida and Koshizuka, who are members of this working group. The current status of various measures and future plans are described below. First of all, regarding the formulation of guidelines for the re-design of regional transportation, including the introduction of autonomous driving services, etc., we are creating guidelines that will serve as a reference for local governments and other organizations so that we can incorporate them into regional mobility issues and advance initiatives. This year, a draft of the guidelines was prepared in cooperation with the demonstration areas. From the next fiscal year, we will work with related ministries and organizations to improve the quality of the guidelines and expand the user base through on-site demonstrations and discussions with many users. Second, we must reduce the cost of key technologies. We are conducting R & D to reduce the cost, reduce the size, and improve the performance of the lidar system used to detect obstacles in automatic driving. The lidar system measures the distance and direction to an object by measuring the time taken for a laser beam to bounce back after hitting the object. Generally, many parts such as lenses and rotating mirrors that shape the laser are used, and miniaturization has been an issue. In this research, we aim to solve the problem by eliminating the lens and rotating mirror into a single chip. We are conducting R & D on technology for laser irradiation and reception at a pinpoint location, technology for multi-directional laser irradiation, and object recognition verification technology. This fiscal year, we promoted the development of elemental technology that will lead to cost reduction of lidar, and implemented design measures for the lidar system. From the next fiscal year, we will work with research programs of related ministries and agencies to conduct R & D while promoting demonstration. We will also formulate target specifications and conduct demand surveys with the aim of commercialization. Next is the examination of data integration and mutual utilization platforms. We are building the Japan Mobility Data Space (JMDS), a platform for integrating and mutually utilizing data, which will be useful for creating mobility services using data and considering mobility redesign. As of the end of the previous fiscal year, we were providing digital sandboxes and other services in some parts of the function, such as an integrated data catalog service that allows users to search for information and cyber simulations. In this fiscal year, we established a data-distribution platform by studying the expansion of services, and verified and evaluated the service and business characteristics by verification test in cooperation with other organizations. In addition, in order to build a system that can continuously operate JMDS from fiscal 2027 onward, we will expand necessary services by working to acquire users, make improvements that reflect user opinions, and identify needs. Finally, we are developing human resources to lead the way in mobility services. We are considering the re-design of regional transportation and creating training programs for specialized human resources and communities to lead the sustainable operation of mobility services. So far, through discussions based on data among the parties concerned, we have practiced methods to foster relationships of trust and promoted the narrative of know-how that is closed within the organization, and some of them have been released to the public as Mobility Chiebukuro. In this fiscal year, we will formulate a draft training program through on-site demonstration of the training program and verification of the trial results in local governments. In the next fiscal year, we will continue to promote these initiatives and reflect R & D and acquire users through nationwide conferences, on-site verification and verification of results. At the same time, we will consider a training system that effectively combines training programs. In the future, we will strengthen cooperation with related ministries and user companies with the aim of full-scale social implementation of these measures. That's all for my report.

Assistant Prof. Misumi: . Let's start with Mr. National Police Agency.

Mr. Ito (Autonomous Driving Planning Office, Traffic Planning Division, National Police Agency Traffic Bureau): I will explain from National Police Agency . Please look at the next page. In the framework of SIP that Cabinet Office just explained, National Police Agency is conducting R & D on the provision of signal information. This fiscal year, we built a demonstration environment for distributing signal information and verified it. From next fiscal year, we will conduct R & D on the use of signal information in various mobility, such as safe driving support for cars and intersection crossing support for electric kick scooter, toward the "Comprehensive verification test using signal information with various mobility" scheduled from fiscal 2026 to fiscal 2009. We will implement the Comprehensive verification test by fiscal 2027 and consider the possibility of utilizing signal information to enhance signal information distribution and ensure traffic safety. That's all.

Assistant Prof. Misumi: , please.

Director-General of the Radio Department Onaga (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications): Next, I will explain from Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Please refer to page 13. Broadly speaking, there are two policies. The first is V2X, or ITS communication, which is an initiative related to the 5.9 GHz band. The second is 5 g SA for mobile networks. Please refer to page 15. As I explained last time, the 5.9 GHz band is currently used for other broadcasting purposes, but we are gradually moving forward with frequency migration so that it can be used exclusively for ITS. In the lower right, we are making a plan on how many radio stations there are in each jurisdiction and in which fiscal year's budget the frequency will be transferred. The third point in the upper box, we are also revising the frequency allocation plan, and we are creating an environment in which the 5.9 GHz band can be used for ITS communication. Please refer to the next page. This is an initiative related to 5 g SA, which is necessary for remote monitoring. In order to realize stable communication through SA, we are providing support through subsidies for Shintona Expressway, etc., where automatic operation is assumed, and we are working in cooperation with related companies to promote the use of SA by mobile carriers. Please refer to the next page. This is the status of the study group we are currently holding. In addition to the 5.9 GHz band and 5 g SA, we are considering the standardization of communication environments and communication systems necessary for ITS, including smart poles pointed out by Mr. Yamamoto. In the future, we would like to summarize these and reflect them in each policy. That is all.

Assistant Prof. Misumi: , the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Manufacturing Industries Bureau, please go ahead.

Deputy Director-General Tanaka (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Manufacturing Industries Bureau): Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Manufacturing Industries Bureau. Please refer to page 21. First, (1) "Verification of Business Profitability". Based on the efforts of the Road to the L4 Project, etc., we plan to compile the knowledge necessary for examining business profitability into the "Guide for Implementation and Commercialization of Autonomous Driving Mobile Services in Society." From the next fiscal year onward, we will organize the in-vehicle remote monitoring methods of unmanned autonomous buses necessary for cost reduction and reflect the obtained knowledge in this guide. (8) "Support for Development of Autonomous Driving Systems". We are supporting the development of a basic model for autonomous driving taxi services, and we plan to organize and publish the basic knowledge on operation systems, etc. obtained there. In addition, (9) Regarding "Cost reduction of key technologies (high-precision maps)", we have established a tool to update high-precision 3 d maps with information obtained using probe car data in this project. (14) Regarding "Establishment of Safety Assessment Environments," we have achieved certain results in establishing a safety assessment method in virtual spaces and improving simulation accuracy. (15) Regarding "Examination and Establishment of Cooperative Systems in Mixed Spaces," as a result of demonstration driving in mixed spaces utilizing infrastructure cooperative autonomous driving systems, we have obtained permission to operate specified autonomous driving. We would like to reflect the information obtained as a result in the guide mentioned earlier. (20) "Formulation of Guide for Improving Social Acceptability" is scheduled to be published in the third edition of the guide, which I have repeatedly mentioned earlier, in cooperation with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and National Police Agency. This is the explanation from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Manufacturing Industries Bureau.

Assistant Prof. Misumi: , Mr. Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Commerce and Information Policy Bureau, please go ahead.

Mgr. Moriya (Information Economy Division, Commerce and Information Policy Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry): This is Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, , Commerce and Information Policy Bureau. Please refer to page 28. With regard to the establishment of centralized bases for transfer, reloading, etc., as an expected result of the end of fiscal 2025, we have studied the establishment method, function, etc., for the implementation of autonomous trucks connecting distribution bases. Toward the end of fiscal 2026, we will continue to study the establishment method, function, etc., of distribution bases based on the results of the efforts until fiscal 2025, as part of Item 18. With regard to the establishment of digital lifeline (autonomous driving service support road), by the end of this fiscal year, we have studied the implementation of digital lifeline and the demonstration of V2N safety support linked with vehicle information. In response, toward the end of next fiscal year, based on the demonstration results of fiscal 2025, we will study the implementation of digital lifeline, including the formulation of specifications for V2N safety support linked with vehicle information. In addition, based on the development status of vehicles after 2027, we will promote the implementation of digital lifeline nationwide. That is all.

Assistant Prof. Misumi: Then, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Distribution and Automobile Bureau, please.

Kubota Deputy Director-General (Transportation Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism): This is Kubota in Deputy Director-General, Transportation Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, . The Transportation Bureau has been organizing important issues, such as ensuring transparent and fair examination procedures for the implementation of so-called transportation services for vehicles and clarifying the method of evaluating the effects of projects for the actual social implementation of autonomous driving. The first edition of the "Guide to Implementation and Commercialization of Autonomous Driving Transportation Services in Society" was published in March 2024, and the second edition was revised last summer. At present, the third edition is scheduled to be published this month and is being organized. In the revision, based on the voices of local governments and communities, we have created a guide that is easier to use, and that organizes and categorizes where to focus on when promoting verification test, successful examples of where verification test has been able to continue, and ideas according to regional characteristics (urban and rural areas). In addition, we are also considering indicators for effect evaluation, including direct and secondary effects of autonomous driving on the verification test. That is all.

Assistant Prof. Misumi: Thank you very much. Now, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's Road Bureau will start the

Toyama Minister's Secretariat Deputy Director-General (Road Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism): Road Bureau At the Road Bureau, we are working on support from the road infrastructure for the realization of autonomous driving. Please look at the next page. We are carrying out various measures by dividing them into 3 categories, truck, bus and taxi. First, about the truck. Technology to assist merging on expressways has been tested on the Shintona Expressway. The next page is the result. Please look at the pie chart. In 64% of the cases, cars were able to merge naturally without the system. In 27% of the cases, cars were able to merge smoothly after the system made a function and adjusted their speed. In the remaining 9% of the cases, cars were unable to merge smoothly even with the system because of conditions on the main line, and the driver intervened. On the whole, we believe that we have confirmed a certain level of effectiveness. As for trucks, we plan to conduct tests on the Tohoku Expressway, which has stricter conditions. Next, it's about the route bus. We are mainly conducting experiments on providing information on the surrounding traffic conditions when a bus turns right. As for this year's results, if you look at the bar graph on the right, you can see that the blue line is the percentage that required human intervention when the system was not in use, and the orange line is the percentage that required human intervention when the system was in operation. The percentage requiring human intervention decreased from 14.5% to 3.9% overall, showing a certain level of effectiveness. On the next page, with regard to driving space and road space itself, we are conducting demonstrations to build an environment in which autonomous vehicles can easily drive. As a future initiative, we would like to examine taxis and other vehicles that travel over a wide area from the perspective of information coordination and optimal use of road space, and consider ways of linking them with infrastructure. On the last page, as a future schedule, we will organize the infrastructure support areas necessary for expressways, and for ordinary roads, we plan to create technical standards and guidelines for road-vehicle coordination and spatial development through demonstration in the advanced commercialization function within the next fiscal year. That's all.

Assistant Prof. Misumi: , due to time constraints, if you have any comments on the current status of the ministries and agencies, please let us know by e-mail to the secretariat after the meeting. Mr. Chief Uno, would you like to summarize this working group?

Chief Uno: Thank you very much for your valuable opinions today. I would also like to thank the fundamental members, Mr. T2, and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism for their explanations. I will briefly summarize the overview. First of all, I received various opinions about the guidelines for transportation trading companies. To put it bluntly, they said that the guidelines should be organized in an easy-to-understand manner so that it is easy for local governments to introduce them. They also said that they would like us to clarify the purpose and organize the introduction process and project format. They also said that they would like us to incorporate the idea of bundling resources. Based on these, I would like you to proceed with the creation of the guidelines while paying attention. Also, regarding autonomous driving, many people said that it is important to develop environments other than vehicles, such as so-called out-cars. They pointed out that it is necessary to firmly promote external environmental development, such as the development of bases for switching between autonomous driving and manual driving, ITS infrastructure, data platform, and network construction. In addition, they pointed out that it is necessary to firmly promote external environmental development, such as the arrangement of permits and approvals that span multiple stakeholders. They also said that they would like us to carefully consider how to promote the "ecosystem" for the Mobility Roadmap 2026. I would like you to take these opinions seriously and work hard, including all government ministries and agencies and Digital Agency, for future consideration. We plan to present a draft of the Mobility Roadmap 2026 next time. I would like each government ministry and agency to consider it based on the opinions received today and reflect them in the Mobility Roadmap 2026. Thank you.

Assistant Prof. Misumi: , Parliamentary Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Imaeda is also present today, so I would like to have his remarks at the end.

Senior Vice-Minister Imaeda: I am IMAEDA Soichiro of State Minister for Digital Transformation, . This is the 15th meeting of the Mobility Working Group, and thank you for your hard work over such a long time. Thank you very much. As Mr. Uno Chief mentioned, various discussions were held, and I am aware that we received various opinions on the outline of the Mobility Roadmap 2026. As is clear from today's discussion, the situation surrounding autonomous driving is changing, and the progress of technology is changing very rapidly. I feel that we have reached a stage where we need to look for a concrete image of how we should think about the future state of technological progress, the impact on society, and the environment required for implementation, in order to implement it in society and commercialize it. Precisely because of these rapid changes, we believe that it is necessary to organize the measures that should be taken and the technology areas that should be focused on based on a backcast approach, with a view not only to the immediate future, but also to the future image of autonomous driving and a major blueprint for the next 10 to 15 years. The project team, which I chair, is concurrently exchanging views with experts in various fields related to autonomous driving, including industry, technology, engineering, and law, as well as private companies active in vehicle development, system development, and communications fields. I would like to introduce the results of the project team to this working group in due course. Also, I heard that there was a discussion about a transportation trading company today. Chief Uno mentioned the guidelines a while ago, but I think we need to go a step further and establish a system of advisors who can accompany all of the more than 1,700 local governments across Japan in their efforts. Many advisors will be found and utilized, and dispatched to regions that are interested in working with transportation trading companies to promote it. In particular, while it is difficult to secure human resources in underpopulated areas, there is a high need for mobility and transportation, and there are conditions that make it relatively easy to introduce the system. I think we should promote a policy of dispatching advisors with a focus on these regions. I believe that the next meeting will focus on the Mobility Roadmap 2026, and I hope that you will continue to give us your frank opinions as you press forward with the formulation of the roadmap. I would appreciate your cooperation. Thank you very much for today.

Assistant Prof. Misumi: , Thank you very much for your various opinions today. If you have any additional opinions, please send them to the secretariat by the end of this week. The proceedings of today's meeting will be disclosed on the Digital Agency website after confirmation by experts. The date of the 16th Mobility Working Group is currently being arranged and will be announced later. The 15th Mobility Working Group will now close. Thank you very much for your time today.

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