Taisei Corporation, TIER IV, Inc. (TIER IV), and Taisei Rotec Corporation have been selected by Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) for a demonstration project aimed at accelerating the deployment of the Autoflow Road.
Promoted by MLIT, the Autoflow Road is a new logistics system designed to transport cargo using unmanned, automated vehicles within purpose-built logistics lanes. The demonstration will evaluate multi-vehicle operations—including platooning, bidirectional driving, lane changes, merging and diverging, and obstacle avoidance—within tunnel environments and other dedicated space. The companies will also test ways to simplify automotive sensors and roadside infrastructure optimized for dedicated lanes, while validating T-Localizer®, Taisei Corporation’s self-localization support technology. The demonstration will also evaluate the adaptability and scalability of Pilot.Auto, an autonomous driving system developed by TIER IV for logistics applications.
Using three autonomous vehicles across straight and curved sections, the project will verify core maneuvers—including following, stopping, passing oncoming vehicle, merging and diverging, obstacle avoidance, and berth stopping accuracy, alongside the required driving space widths including standard, intermediate, and minimum.
| Theme | Multi-vehicle autonomous driving verification |
| Location | Full-scale tunnel test facility and test track (East straight section and South loop) operated by the National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management of MLIT |
| Period | Late October – early November 2026 (8 days) |
| Vehicle Fleet | 3 experimental autonomous vehicles* |
| Autonomous Driving System | Pilot.Auto developed by TIER IV based on Autoware, open-source software for autonomous driving |
*Passenger-car-based vehicles will be used in this demonstration for testing purposes. They do not represent the final dedicated transport hardware for the actual Autoflow Road deployment.
| Company Name | Roles |
| Taisei Corporation | Overall planning and execution, verification of T-Localizer® and infrastructure simplification, and data analysis |
| TIER IV | Provision of autonomous vehicles and the autonomous driving system, test-driviving operations, and driving data acquisition and analysis |
| Taisei Rotec Corporation | Reflector installation planning, construction, measurement, and field support |
Operating within purpose-built logistics lanes requires an optimal integration of vehicle autonomy and roadside infrastructure.
Taisei Corporation has developed T-Localizer® and T-iPower® Road, a dynamic wireless power transfer system, while Taisei Rotec Corporation has developed tunnel surface coatings engineered to enhance vehicle LiDAR perception in GPS-denied environments. TIER IV has provided an autonomous vehicle equipped with Autoware.
To test the applicability of these technologies to the Autoflow Road, the companies participated in an MLIT’s FY2025 demonstration project, conducting trials using TIER IV autonomous vehicle and Taisei Corporation’s T-Localizer® alongside the T-iPower® Road. The results confirmed the potential applicability and feasibility of these technologies for the Autoflow Road, while also identifying operational challenges.
Building on their joint FY2025 demonstration, the companies will evaluate multi-vehicle operations and streamlined sensor layout and roadside infrastructure in the FY2026 demonstration.
Insights from this project will help clarify the respective roles of vehicle autonomy and road infrastructure, laying the foundation for a lean and scalable deployment of the Autoflow Road.
*Based on current plans submitted to MLIT.
T-Localizer® https://www.taisei.co.jp/about_us/wn/2025/251215_10821.html
https://chizu.taisei.co.jp/trend/selection/09.html
https://chizu.taisei.co.jp/trend/selection/10.html
T-iPower® Road https://www.taisei.co.jp/about_us/wn/2025/250718_10570.html
Pilot.Auto https://pilot.auto/
Taisei Corporation: Public Relations Office, Corporate Communications Department +81-3-5381-5011
TIER IV: Public Relations pr@tier4.jp
Taisei Rotec Corporation: Public Relations Department +81-3-5925-9431