Japanese major truck and diesel engine manufacturer Isuzu Motors Ltd. said it is set to conduct public highway tests of its autonomous truck between January and the spring of 2026, The Asahi Shimbun reported.
The trial will involve a heavy-duty truck developed by Isuzu in cooperation with Applied Intuition, a U.S.-based provider of software tools for autonomous-vehicle development and validation. The vehicle will operate along a portion of the inter-prefectural route connecting the cities of Tochigi and Ichinomiya, transporting spare parts between the company’s operational bases. A human driver will remain on board to assume control in the event of an emergency.
The test vehicle is equipped with LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology, enabling it to detect and avoid obstacles. According to Isuzu, the company aims to advance its autonomous-driving software to Level 4 capability — allowing the system to handle all driving tasks under defined conditions without human intervention — and apply it to truck and bus operations in Japan’s 2027 fiscal year (April 2027 through March 31, 2028).
Separately, Nissan Motor announced the launch of a robotaxi service pilot project in Yokohama City, scheduled to run from November through January 2026.
Separately, a self-driving taxi operated by Waymo, a U.S.-based commercial robotaxi service provider, was recently involved in a hazardous situation in which it passed through a police high-risk stop, failing to respond to officers’ instructions and visual signals while passengers were on board.
