Toyota Tsusho Corporation ("Toyota Tsusho") announced today that it will commence public road demonstration tests of autonomous driving semi-trailer trucks between logistics hubs located near interchanges in Shizuoka Prefecture and Aichi Prefecture. This initiative is part of a full-scale study on the practical implementation of autonomous driving trucks, conducted in collaboration with Robotruck Inc. ("Robotruck") and three logistics companies.

This demonstration test is part of the "Demonstration Project for the Social Implementation of Autonomous Truck-based Trunk Line Transportation" by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). A consortium led by Toyota Tsusho was selected to conduct this project, which involves a total of five companies: Robotruck, Otsuka Warehouse Co., Ltd., Seino Transportation Co., Ltd., and Fukuyama Transporting Co., Ltd.

Toyota Tsusho has conducted multi-year demonstration tests and confirmed a certain level of results on the safety and technical capabilities of autonomous driving trucks through the "Initiative for the Realization of High-performance Trucks on Expressways (Theme 3)," a social implementation project for autonomous driving trucks promoted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the MLIT.

However, moving toward practical implementation requires a comprehensive study that anticipates significant changes in business structure and profitability. This includes not only ensuring safety, but also building operations and establishing operational frameworks, which involve introducing new systems.

This demonstration test will verify the safety of the autonomous driving semi-trailer developed by Robotruck, as well as evaluate its utility for transport operations and verify its profitability.

Semi-trailers are large freight vehicles that tow a separate cargo body (trailer). They offer greater loading capacity than conventional trucks and eliminate the need to wait for loading and unloading at departure and arrival points, thereby enabling more efficient transport operations.

To verify profitability, Toyota Tsusho will use data and insights from the five consortium member companies to clarify the income and expense structure with the aim of establishing a sustainable autonomous transport model.

In the next fiscal year and beyond, Toyota Tsusho plans to steadily advance its efforts toward practical implementation based on the technical insights and business feasibility assessment results obtained from this year's demonstration. In doing so, it aims to realize sustainable transport services using autonomous driving trucks.

Toyota Tsusho will further accelerate its efforts toward the social implementation of autonomous driving trucks.