Japanese auto giant Toyota has resumed operations of its driverless vehicles at the Paralympic Games village in Tokyo after an accident that took place last week.
The service of the autonomous vehicles was stoped after a visually impaired athlete was hit by it. Fortunately, there was no serious injury but the athlete had to pull out of an event due to cuts. In order to avoid any further accidents in the future, the authorities have assigned more staff with operational control of the vehicle,
On Thursday, Aramitsu Kitazono, a member of Japan’s judo team, was hit as he was walking across a pedestrian crossing on Thursday. Due to this he wasn’t able to compete in his 81kg category.
In a statement, Toyota said: “The vehicle’s sensor detected the pedestrian crossing and activated the automatic brake, and the operator also activated the emergency brake. The vehicle and pedestrians, however, came into contact before it came to a complete halt.”
Toyota said that operators will have control over the speed of the vehicle. In addition to this, there will be two staff members on board as compared to one.
New safety features will also include louder warning sounds, while pedestrian guides at busy crossings in the Paralympic village will be increased to 20 from six.
Toyota also said that it would continue to make safety improvements “on a daily basis” until the village closes.
The company also said it was co-operating with a local police investigation to determine the cause of the accident.
