Car accidents in the most important changes in the world’s oldest nation by car manufacturers

Photographer: Kyodo / AP Photo

Automakers in Japan, where nearly 30 percent of the population is 65 or older, are taking the lead in adapting cars so the nation’s legions of elderly drivers can feel safer – and be safer – behind the wheel.

A number of accidents involving elderly people behind the wheel have increased pressure from regulators to standardize advanced functions. Automatic brakes will be required for all new vehicles sold nationwide starting this year, for example, and Toyota Motor Corp. companies. and Nissan Motor Co. they use smart technology to make cars easier to use for the elderly.

It is also becoming a priority as public railways rural areas are disappearing, exacerbating an isolation crisis that has only made the coronavirus pandemic stronger. With no means to get around, Japan’s seniors are increasingly confined to their homes and their lives shrink as transportation options evaporate.

A recent high-profile fatal crash highlighted the problem. In February last year, Japanese prosecutors accused of 89-year-old Kozo Iizuka, accused of negligence that caused death and injury after an accident in Tokyo Ikebukuro District. In April bureaucrat was on his way to a French restaurant with his wife in April 2019 when his Toyota Prius he plowed through a crossroads, killing a small child and his mother and hurting others.

The accident it reached the headlines, mostly because of Iizuka’s high-ranking government position. Public sentiment quickly turned against Iizuka, who has returned to court this week after pleading not guilty in October. The incident also sparked a national debate over the swelling of rows of elderly drivers on Japan’s roads. After the event, the number of seniors who chose to permanently park their wheels skyrocketed. According to the National Police Agency, with 350,428 people aged 75 or over they returned their driving licenses in 2019, the highest recorded.

“Young people tell us that seniors give us back our driving licenses, but they are not there,” says Hideaki Fukushima, 90, whose wife returned her own license at the time of the accident. The couple’s children live in Nagoya, a two-hour drive away. In Takamori where they live, a small town in the central mountainous area of ​​Japan, with trains operated by Central Japan Railway Co. it only arrives about once an hour. “You can’t do anything without a car,” Fukushima says.

Last year, Toyota upgraded its Safety Sense offer. The technology is designed to prevent or mitigate frontal collisions and keep drivers inside their lane. By using high-resolution cameras on the windshield and radar mounted on the bumper, you can detect approaching cars or pedestrians, or even bicycles during the day, and give audible and visual alerts. If drivers do not respond, automatic braking can be implemented. The new software also has intersection features to help detect approaching obstacles if a car makes a turn from a stationary position.

Other Toyota Safety Sense features include the correction of inadvertent lane exits, automatic alternation between beam and night light depending on the surrounding traffic, and detection of cars moving more slowly ahead on a highway and automatic maintenance of a predetermined distance. Traffic signal assistance technology detects stop and speed signals as they pass and displays a warning on the control panel in case drivers have lost them themselves.

“A society in which older people can drive safely is crucial to their active social participation and a healthier, fuller life,” Toyota said. “Our ultimate goal is, of course, to have zero traffic accident victims.”

The aspirations of Subaru Corp. they are similar; wants to eliminate all fatalities by 2030. Like several other automakers, it uses stereo cameras, which have two or more lenses with a separate image sensor for each, that allows you to capture three-dimensional images. Called EyeSight, the technology looks ahead and warns drivers of any danger. Subaru claims that vehicles equipped with Eyesight are involved in 61% fewer accidents and 85% fewer subsequent accidents. Pedestrian-related injuries are reduced by 35%.

“It would be impossible to eradicate all fatal accidents without using artificial intelligence,” says Eiji Shibata of Subaru, which oversees the EyeSight development. To achieve its ambitious goal, Subaru plans to combine its stereo cameras with AI, assigning meaning to each object and trying to accurately infer risk.

This is not without its challenges, according to Shibata. “It’s a technologically tough area,” he says. Stereo cameras are more difficult to install in mass-produced vehicles, in part because they transmit more information than other sensors and require more complicated rear support. “Equipping the technology with the cars that people usually use is a huge task.”