Self-driving bus to begin service near Tokyo

A major Japanese IT firm says it will launch a driverless bus service at a park near Tokyo next month.DeNA got help on the project from a French venture company that develops self-driving technology.DeNA says it will offer the service in a park next to a shopping mall in Chiba City. The bus can carry 12 people and follows a preset route. The bus’s cameras and sensors automatically stop it when they detect something nearby. Passengers can also stop the bus by pushing emergency buttons.Self-driving systems are said to suitable for buses that run on preset routes.DeNA plans to eventually introduce self-driving vehicles at sites other than public roads, such as factories and shopping mall parking lots.The firm’s Executive Officer Hiroshi Nakajima says legal hurdles to introduce driverless systems are low for private areas. He says DeNA wants to provide reliable services by building a system with 2 or 3...