What happened
On 29 August 2025 the Kanto District Transport Bureau of Japan's transport ministry made Chiba Prefecture's first Level 4 approval. Advanced Smart Mobility applied for it. 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 vehicle is an Isuzu Erga Mio that Tobu Bus Central operates on a route of about 700 m in Kashiwa, at up to 40 km/h. The bureau states that the bus finds its own position with sensors and drives itself on the set route under specific conditions while detecting vehicles and pedestrians. Impress Watch reported on 13 January 2026 that Advanced Smart Mobility had converted the bus and that Level 4 service had begun. It added that a crew member rides in the driver's seat. The release gives no test results and does not say whether the device uses machine learning.
Sources
-
Regulatory document, by authors with no tie to the system.
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (Japan), Kanto District Transport Bureau, Automotive Technology and Safety Department. 千葉県初！自動運転車（レベル４）の認可を行いました (First in Chiba Prefecture: approval of a Level 4 automated vehicle). Press release, 29 August 2025, paragraphs 1 and 2 and table.
国土交通省関東運輸局は、千葉県柏市を運行する車両の自動運行装置について、2025 年 8 月 29 日、道路運送車両法に基づく保安基準の適合性が確認されたことから、当該車両に対し走行環境条件の付与を行い、運転者を必要としない自動運転車（レベル４）として認可しました。
-
News report, by authors with no tie to the system.
Impress Watch. 東京都市圏の公道初 柏の葉地区でレベル4自動運転バス運行開始 (First on public roads in the Tokyo area: Level 4 automated bus service starts in Kashiwa-no-ha). 13 January 2026.
車両は先進モビリティが自動運転車両に改造した、最高速度が40km/hの国産中型バスを使用し、運行事業者は東武バスセントラル。
Details
AI system
- Workflow
-
The bus finds its own position with sensors and follows a set route of about 700 m. 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.
Follow-up
- Conditions for replication
-
The bus drives itself only on the approved route and under the specific conditions of the approval, at up to 40 km/h. Level 4 service also needed further permits, and Impress Watch reports that all were in hand by 9 December 2025.
Entry details
- Sector
-
Road vehicle automated driving.
- Purpose
-
Advanced Smart Mobility built the automated operation device to drive the bus on a set route with no driver under specific conditions.
31 more questions not yet checked
model, release, provider, role, configuration, inputs and outputs, autonomy, human oversight, AI contribution, beneficiaries, reach, distribution and access, duration, every measurement question, every money question, ownership and control, dependencies, cross-border connections, geopolitical implications, replication attempts, availability, institutional decision, grounds, action and result, success criterion, every evidence question, observed or intended, alternative assessments, related entries, other identifiers, category mappings.
Cite this record
Peter H. Vartanian. (2026). Automated operation device lets a Kashiwa bus run with no driver (AIBD-1013). Artificial Intelligence Benefits Database, edition of 1 November 2026. https://petervartanian.xyz/aibd/records/AIBD-1013.html (archived at https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/AADSII, version 7.0)