Japan OKs highly autonomous “level-4” driving from April 2023

Japan decided Tuesday to allow highly autonomous “level-4” self-driving vehicles for use in transit and delivery services from April 2023.

Private cars will not be subject to the changes next year, with the automated vehicles intended to lead to the technology’s use in unmanned bus services in regions with falling populations and in self-driving delivery robots.

Self-driving automation is classified into five levels starting at level-1, which allows either steering, brake or acceleration support.

At level-4, set to be permitted on April 1, a vehicle can conduct driving tasks without human inte...