{"id":"AIBD-0951","title":"Japan's Hokuriku-Shinetsu District Transport Bureau approves TIER IV's automated minibus in Shiojiri as a Level 4 vehicle that needs no driver","summary":"On 31 October 2024 a Japanese transport bureau confirmed that TIER IV's automated operation device met the safety standards. It approved a Shiojiri minibus as a Level 4 vehicle with no driver.","date_observed":"2024-10-31","date_basis":"source publication","date_precision":"day","benefit_status":"intended","source_collection":null,"source_entry":null,"account":"On 31 October 2024 Japan's Hokuriku-Shinetsu District Transport Bureau approved a TIER IV minibus in Shiojiri, Nagano Prefecture, on TIER IV's application. The bureau confirmed that the vehicle's automated operation device met the safety standards of the Road Transport Vehicle Act. It set the driving environment conditions and approved the bus as a Level 4 automated vehicle that needs no driver. The bus runs about 1.2 km from Shiojiri Station to Shiojiri City Hall at up to 35 km/h. The bureau states that it drives itself on the set route under specific conditions while detecting vehicles and pedestrians. The Shiojiri City Promotion Corporation operates it. TIER IV calls the system AI Pilot and states that this was Japan's first Level 4 approval for up to 35 km/h on roads shared with pedestrians and general traffic. TIER IV's project page says that the bus runs its regular service at Level 2 while the city works toward Level 4. It adds that a permit to operate at Level 4 followed in January 2025. The release gives no test results.","category":"benefit created","unexpected":false,"purpose":"TIER IV built AI Pilot to drive vehicles such as its Minibus on set routes with no driver under specific conditions.","system":"Automated operation device (TIER IV's AI Pilot) on the TIER IV Minibus","model_version":null,"developer":"TIER IV, Inc.","deployer":"Shiojiri City Promotion Corporation (一般財団法人塩尻市振興公社), the operator","location":"Shiojiri, Nagano Prefecture, Japan","domain":"Road vehicle automated driving","segment":null,"benefit_type":"Increased Product Safety","work_activities":["4.A.3.a.4","4.A.1.a.2"],"taxonomy_note":"The bureau approved the bus after confirming that it met the safety standards. 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PR Newswire, Tokyo, 31 October 2024, as republished by TNGlobal (archived copy).","title":"TIER IV's AI Pilot system certified for Level 4 autonomous bus service in Nagano Prefecture","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/2026id_/https://technode.global/prnasia/tier-ivs-ai-pilot-system-certified-for-level-4-autonomous-bus-service-in-nagano-prefecture/","date":"2024-10-31","written_by":"makers","quote":"This certification marks the first-ever Level 4 certification in Japan to operate up to 35 km/h on public roads shared by pedestrians and general traffic, specifically along the route between Shiojiri Station and Shiojiri City Hall."},{"kind":"other","citation":"TIER IV. 長野県塩尻市 (Shiojiri, Nagano Prefecture), case study page on the introduction of automated buses. Undated, read 31 October 2026.","title":"長野県塩尻市の自動運転バス導入｜事例・プロジェクト｜株式会社ティアフォー","url":"https://services.tier4.jp/shiojiri-nagano","date":null,"written_by":"makers","quote":"ティアフォーが開発するMinibusを自動運転バスとして使用し、現在は自動運転レベル2で自動運転バスの定常運行を実施しながら、将来的な自動運転レベル4の実装を目指しています。"}],"replication":{"produced_by":["The bus finds its own position with sensors and cameras and follows a set route.","It detects surrounding vehicles and pedestrians while it drives.","The bureau confirmed that the automated operation device met the safety standards and set its driving environment conditions."],"must_hold":["The bus drives only on the approved route of about 1.2 km between Shiojiri Station and Shiojiri City Hall.","It drives itself only under the specific conditions of the approval, at up to 35 km/h."],"echoes":[]},"paired_incident":null,"headline":"Japan approves *AI Pilot* to drive a Shiojiri minibus with no driver","metric":null,"comparator":null,"later":null,"value":null,"developer_country":"Japan","deployer_country":"Japan","unrated_because":"The bureau approved the bus on a conformity check, and no outcome from service with no driver is reported.","brief_notes":null,"brief":null,"revisions":[{"date":"2026-10-31","change":"Added the record from the finding of Japan's Hokuriku-Shinetsu District Transport Bureau.","source":"https://wwwtb.mlit.go.jp/hokushin/content/000335753.pdf","editor":"AIBD"}],"confidence":"found","shade":"high","claim_status":"Found by a regulator","claim_basis":"Sources: one independent regulatory document, the makers' press release and the makers' other source. 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