East Japan Railway (JR East) announced plans on Tuesday to introduce self-driving high-speed trains by the mid-2030s in a bid to make operations more efficient and sustainable.
The major railway company said it initially aims to implement driverless operations for the Joetsu Shinkansen line between Niigata and Tokyo stations. The company will take incremental steps to automate the high-speed trains.
There are different degrees of automation. To start, JR East plans to operate bullet trains with the second degree of automation between Nagaoka Station and the Niigata Shinkansen station center in fiscal year 2028, which ends in March 2029.
