Hitachi's Tiny Robo-Taxi Carries 1 Passenger and No Driver

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Hitachi's Tiny Robo-Taxi Carries 1 Passenger and No Driver

Posted by timothy on Saturday March 23, 2013 @09:37AM from the perfect-for-class-reunion-showoffs dept.

New submitter terrywo5 writes "A new driver-less robotic car nicknamed ROPITS was revealed recently by Hitachi in the city of Tsukuba. This tiny robotic car uses GPS to transport its single passenger, and it can be programmed to pick up and drop passengers automatically. Check this article and video to learn more about this car."

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Johnny Cab ? by MLBs · 2013-03-23 09:41 · Score: 3, Funny

I wonder if there's a stick there to evade the bad guys.
1. Re:Johnny Cab ? by binarylarry · 2013-03-23 09:55 · Score: 2
  
  Konichiwa! Youkoso Johnny Cab!
  
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  Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
2. Re:Johnny Cab ? by flyneye · 2013-03-23 12:24 · Score: 1
  
  I wonder how many more you can fit under semi-trucks than Smart Cars.
  There are certain realities of driving than need to be addressed before you put anything smaller than a motorcycle on the road.
  " Speeds of up to 6 mph", I might as well walk if it's that close, because if it's far it will take all night.
  I could ride on the head of an old woman faster. Why not crawl in a little electric kiddie car from Wal-Mart? Some of them have some cargo space.
  
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3. Re:Johnny Cab ? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-23 12:56 · Score: 0
  
  It's for old people. Think of it more as an electric scooter for hire.
4. Re:Johnny Cab ? by RussR42 · 2013-03-23 14:10 · Score: 1
  
  Ah, you are incorrect! From TFA:
  
  An electric engine of ROPITS is capable of speeding up to 6 miles /hr.
  
  So if the speed limit is 70mph, that means it'll run at 76mph! Unless you find a really fast old woman...
5. Re:Johnny Cab ? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-23 20:38 · Score: 0
  
  Heh. Got to love the Fuji film sign.
6. Re:Johnny Cab ? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-24 03:24 · Score: 0
  
  I hijack this comment to reply and warn that the link in the article is a spam site.
7. Re:Johnny Cab ? by flyneye · 2013-03-24 04:07 · Score: 1
  
  They are in safety testing as we speak. There is a little trouble with the breaks, but the old gal is a trooper.
  
  --
  *Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
8. Re:Johnny Cab ? by flyneye · 2013-03-24 04:15 · Score: 1
  
  I get pictures of the Wal-Mart Razor electric scooters instead of the Sun City chapter of Hells Angels terrorizing malls with a fleet of Hoverounds , like I know you mean. I really had hoped to see some single wheel, gyroscopic space saver for crashing down sidewalks in Tokyo sprawl, like a big psycho-Seussmobile, but it would really have to be a flying car/boat to take advantage of the canals. Can you see the picture I'm painting?
  
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  *Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
9. Re:Johnny Cab ? by icebike · 2013-03-24 04:53 · Score: 1
  
  Old people aren't getting into anything that small unless it has 6 carrying handles. If you need a helmet to drive it, you are already on the wrong track.
  
  --
  Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
10. Re:Johnny Cab ? by mcswell · 2013-03-24 13:43 · Score: 1
  
  "...a really fast old woman." You mean the one from Pasadena? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXgVlRmziwQ
11. Re:Johnny Cab ? by Legion303 · 2013-03-24 14:55 · Score: 1
  
  "There is a little trouble with the breaks"
  Hip problems?
12. Re:Johnny Cab ? by flyneye · 2013-03-24 22:47 · Score: 1
  
  I was bein' punny.
  
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  *Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
Thank you for using Johnny Cab by hedley · 2013-03-23 09:43 · Score: 2

Without the Chucky-esque Johnny.
H.
1. Re:Thank you for using Johnny Cab by n3tm0nk · 2013-03-23 10:04 · Score: 0
  
  Maybe they will offer Johnny as an add-on....
2. Re:Thank you for using Johnny Cab by guttentag · 2013-03-23 16:30 · Score: 1
  
  Without the Chucky-esque Johnny.
  Does it still try to run you over and then explode if you don't pay your fare? Because that was really the killer feature in Johnny Cab.
The beginning of the end of an era. by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-23 09:45 · Score: 0

I'm looking forward it!
Passengers need a helmet? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-23 10:01 · Score: 1

The fact that they made the passenger wear a helmet even in the marketing video does not speak well of their confidence in it's safety.
1. Re:Passengers need a helmet? by ShanghaiBill · 2013-03-23 10:10 · Score: 1
  
  The fact that they made the passenger wear a helmet even in the marketing video does not speak well of their confidence in it's safety.
  In Japan it is illegal to own scissors with blades more than six inches long without a license. It is the most safety conscious place on Earth. The helmet seems like overkill considering this taxi doesn't even move. The video consists of nothing but zooming in on still photos of the taxi sitting in one spot.
2. Re:Passengers need a helmet? by MichaelSmith · 2013-03-23 10:24 · Score: 1
  
  Though strangely Japanese people I know think it is strange to wear a helmet to ride a bicycle.
  
  --
  http://michaelsmith.id.au
3. Re:Passengers need a helmet? by maxwell+demon · 2013-03-23 10:37 · Score: 2
  
  It is the most safety conscious place on Earth.
  Except when it comes to nuclear power plants.
  
  --
  The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
4. Re:Passengers need a helmet? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-23 10:43 · Score: 1
  
  Everyone (except people who don't ride bicycles themselves) thinks it is strange to wear a helmet to ride a bicycle other than for racing.
5. Re:Passengers need a helmet? by ArcadeMan · 2013-03-23 10:54 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Do you know of a better way to get tentacle monsters?
  
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  Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
6. Re:Passengers need a helmet? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-23 11:59 · Score: 0
  
  Bah! Demonic pacts, of course!
7. Re:Passengers need a helmet? by Mr.+Slippery · 2013-03-23 13:38 · Score: 1
  
  In Japan it is illegal to own scissors with blades more than six inches long without a license. It is the most safety conscious place on Earth.
  Nah. Compared to the U.S., where we make laws that say people have to wear bike helmets? (No one does in Japan.) If long scissors are illegal it's under their knife-control laws, which are about the usual ridiculous hoplophobia and not safety.
  
  --
  Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
  You cannot wash away blood with blood
8. Re:Passengers need a helmet? by TrekkieGod · 2013-03-23 15:35 · Score: 1
  
  It is the most safety conscious place on Earth.
  Except when it comes to nuclear power plants.
  No, that's definitely including nuclear power plants. When you look at the number of deaths vs. energy provided, turns out nuclear is the safest technology there is, beating wind, solar, and hydro.
  
  --
  Warning: Opinions known to be heavily biased.
9. Re:Passengers need a helmet? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-23 16:38 · Score: 0
  
  Sure. But using MOX fuel is not the safest way to run a nuclear power plant. I won't say they should have been using Thorium, as Thorium plants are still essentially under development, but for the love of god, using a combination of plutonium and uranium AND storing them the way they did in those plants was simply not the safest way to run them. The point wasn't that nuclear is unsafe, but that Tesco could have done a LOT more to make the plants they had safer, rather than cutting corners that resulted in a lot more damage being done than was necessary when the earthquake/tsunami hit.
10. Re:Passengers need a helmet? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-23 17:18 · Score: 0
  
  Nonsense. They're also essential for mountain biking. And BMX.
11. Re:Passengers need a helmet? by MichaelSmith · 2013-03-23 17:49 · Score: 2
  
  Speaking as a dedicated bike commuter, I wouldn't hit the road without one. No matter how hard I try, I am going to come off the bike every 20 or 30 thousand kilometres, and head wounds are nasty.
  
  --
  http://michaelsmith.id.au
12. Re:Passengers need a helmet? by mug+funky · 2013-03-24 00:54 · Score: 1
  
  i guess in future we wont let British supermarket chains run nuclear power plants...
  FWIW MOX is made from decommissioned weapons. it may well have saved lives on balance.
13. Re:Passengers need a helmet? by maxwell+demon · 2013-03-24 01:30 · Score: 1
  
  And in Fukushima nothing would have happened to the plants if Tepco would have made their plants safe, instead of ignoring the safety warnings, including the warnings that their Tsunami protection was inadequate.
  
  --
  The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
14. Re:Passengers need a helmet? by TheRaven64 · 2013-03-24 01:41 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Statistically, you are marginally more likely to die in an accident if you don't wear a helmet. If you do, however, then you are more likely to be involved in an accident overall and significantly more likely to suffer permanent paralysis from an injury. The former is believed to be a combination of a perception of increased safety and reduced spacial awareness from the different airflow around your ears. The latter is because the large helmet significantly increases the torque on your neck in an accident, so impacts that would have been a mild concussion become a broken neck.
  
  --
  I am TheRaven on Soylent News
15. Re:Passengers need a helmet? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-24 04:00 · Score: 0
  
  What century are you living in? Even cheap modern helmets don't really weigh anything and look really cool. Most will come with a retractable section for blocking out the glare from the sun too, makig them practical as well.
16. Re:Passengers need a helmet? by TheRaven64 · 2013-03-24 05:53 · Score: 1
  
  Oh, I'm sorry, I thought we were talking about safety. I didn't realise this was a fashion discussion. The statistics I'm quoting were published about two years ago, so the century in question would be the 21st.
  
  --
  I am TheRaven on Soylent News
17. Re:Passengers need a helmet? by MichaelSmith · 2013-03-24 08:52 · Score: 1
  
  So... do you ride 5000 km per year without a helmet?
  
  --
  http://michaelsmith.id.au
18. Re:Passengers need a helmet? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-24 09:04 · Score: 0
  
  It took an unprecedented level of natural disaster to publically expose some flaws in the plant. The resulting problem was handled quickly without any severe consequences from the physical fallout. Even though there was a clusterfuck in administration, the ancient design proved that even with its flaws, any problem could be contained.
19. Re:Passengers need a helmet? by Immerman · 2013-03-24 19:45 · Score: 1
  
  What does helmet weight have to do with anything? I can't say anything about the validity of the claimed statistics, but increased torques would come from the fact that the helmet tends to increase the moment arm about the neck of any impact other than a blow directly to the top of the head. I don't know how big a difference that would really make though, seems like even the worst-case scenario is probably only a 10% increase or so, but then I suppose a non-negligible number of impacts involve torques right near the critical limits.
  
  --
  --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
20. Re:Passengers need a helmet? by TheRaven64 · 2013-03-24 20:45 · Score: 1
  
  Why do you keep bringing up weight, when I'm talking about diameter? A typical bike helmet is not very dense at all, it is usually a plastic cover over foam. If you want to dig out the statistics, they were a Slashdot story a couple of years ago, condensed from data from the USA, but I don't remember which government department issued them.
  
  --
  I am TheRaven on Soylent News
21. Re:Passengers need a helmet? by stoatwblr · 2013-03-25 03:54 · Score: 1
  
  Or what would have been deadly (or extremely disfiguring) injuries become mitigated down to neck injuries. My doctor pointed out that without a helmet I'd have no skull/face left, instead of a bunch of soft tissue damage from the twisting action as it hit the road. One of my teachers at high school wasn't wearing a helmet the day he kissed the road and what's left of his face is a sobering reminder of why they're a good idea. One can use the same argument to claim that car safety equpiment increases injury rates and decreases death rates.
22. Re:Passengers need a helmet? by TheRaven64 · 2013-03-25 04:08 · Score: 1
  
  I don't think I've ever seen a bicycle helmet that will protect your face. What sort do you wear?
  
  --
  I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Shady site by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-23 10:04 · Score: 2, Informative

Hmm.. this site has a linkfarm on top of the page to a set of loan sites and uses Javascript to move it out of view.
1. Re:Shady site by __aajfby9338 · 2013-03-23 11:47 · Score: 2
  
  When I viewed the site on my iPad, there was a floating panel of Facebook/twitter/etc. share buttons on the left side that it repositioned to obscure content as I scrolled. The floating buttons duplicated fixed ones above the content. Nuke it from orbit, please.
2. Re:Shady site by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-23 12:14 · Score: 0
  
  The internet is useless without adblock and noscript. Install those and you'll be fine.
3. Re:Shady site by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-23 13:32 · Score: 0
  
  er, considering most sites use javascript (and often use it WELL), i'd say if you're using noscript you're actually crippling yourself.
  i'll never understand why so many slashdotters are fucking terrified of javascript. you're not going to get a zomg virus from using it. no one's "tracking" you. no one's out to get you.
4. Re:Shady site by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-24 06:17 · Score: 0
  
  javascript lets an unknown 3th party execute unknown code on your machine.
  except according to httparchive.org there's currently 15 (on average) bits of code being executed
  several of those commonly used 3th parties (like oh say the adnetworks) have been hacked more then once in the past to server malware.
  Consequently disabling js is sensible
  Besides most websites (as opposed to webapps) are perfectly usuable without Javascript, for those that aren't noscript will let met selectively unblock them as needed. This greatly decreases the attack vectors available.
6 km/h on sidewalks! by openfrog · 2013-03-23 10:05 · Score: 1

The company conducted a test in Tsukuba (Ibaraki Prefecture) within a roughly 18 km wide sidewalk. It can get to a speed of 6 km/h.
However, not only the video does not show it in operation in situ, but does not even show it running at all. The presentation instead consists of stills showing someone sitting in it and entering or exiting.
The story is interesting in that it shows a companies rushing to demonstrate the technology and how it can be used.
1. Re:6 km/h on sidewalks! by Phrogman · 2013-03-23 10:49 · Score: 2
  
  I am more alarmed at the Eighteen Kilometre wide sidewalks. Imagine just trying to cross the street :P
  
  --
  "The first time I got drunk, I got married. The second time I bought a chimpanzee, after that I stayed sober" Arian Seid
2. Re:6 km/h on sidewalks! by jewens · 2013-03-24 01:15 · Score: 1
  
  That could take 3 hours.
  
  --
  That group of bovine standing over there appears quite portentous. That's right it's an ominous cow herd.
Before anyone asks... by K.+S.+Kyosuke · 2013-03-23 10:11 · Score: 5, Funny

...I'm sure it *is* running Linux, seeing as there is no driver for it.

--
Ezekiel 23:20
1. Re:Before anyone asks... by maxwell+demon · 2013-03-23 10:18 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  No, it can be clearly seen in the video that the car has windows.
  
  --
  The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
2. Re:Before anyone asks... by grantek · 2013-03-23 10:24 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  You don't have to use the windows though, if you want you can just sit in the back with your wine.
3. Re:Before anyone asks... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-23 10:30 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Oh great, now we are really going to have BSOD crashes.
4. Re:Before anyone asks... by maxwell+demon · 2013-03-23 11:22 · Score: 0
  
  Seeing as you don't drive the damn thing and have to just follow along for the ride, I thought it ran OS X.
  Since it's mobile, wouldn't it rather be iOS, then?
  
  --
  The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
5. Re:Before anyone asks... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-23 16:05 · Score: 0
  
  It's obvious! It's running apple software!
  Looks alot like windows but you're not in control at all....
  And if you have a problem... well, sucks to be you!
6. Re:Before anyone asks... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-23 16:56 · Score: 0
  
  I only see one Window.... so it's running Windows 8?
7. Re:Before anyone asks... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-23 18:22 · Score: 0
  
  If it were iOS, then you couldn't tell it where to go. And in the rare event it did feel like taking user input seriously, it'd still not get you where you wanted to go, because it'd be using Apple Maps, and would likely drop off a cliff.
Their blog is probably hacked. by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-23 10:15 · Score: 4, Interesting

View page without javascript and see the wonder that is link spam.
The way it looks... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-23 10:28 · Score: 0

It looks kinda like Bumblebee made love with a Dalek...
1. Re:The way it looks... by Nocturnal+Deviant · 2013-03-23 10:44 · Score: 1
  
  That is EXACTLY what I thought, although closer to a bumblebee than the bumblebee.
  
  --
  -Noc
No video, just 6 stills + transitions by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-23 10:39 · Score: 0

Calling that a "video" is stretching the meaning of the term into the realm of the retarded. Sure, it's done on Youtube all the time, but that just proves the point and doesn't make it any better.
not a car by Khashishi · 2013-03-23 11:08 · Score: 1

It drives on sidewalks and is intended for the elderly. It's more wheelchair than car. I don't understand the purpose of a closed cabin if it doesn't go very fast.
1. Re:not a car by RelaxedTension · 2013-03-23 11:17 · Score: 1
  
  While I've never been there, I am somewhat confident they have rain from time to time.
2. Re:not a car by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-23 11:29 · Score: 0
  
  One way to keep the elderly out of rain, wind, cold and snow for the northern part of Japan.
What about the dorky helmet? by 140Mandak262Jamuna · 2013-03-23 11:16 · Score: 1

Does that helmet climbs on to the heads of the passengers itself? Or the passenger has to put it on himself?

--
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Re:Thats the domains purpose by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-23 11:22 · Score: 1

the whole thing is a spammers site, look at the url and content, slashdot editors fooled again, there has never been a decent human soul involved with that site, its all probably automated scraped content as well, sad really for everyone involved, misdirected talent.
Spam Website by wadeal · 2013-03-23 11:29 · Score: 2

"shiotsu-used-car.com"... This article should be pulled and whoever edited this fired. This is getting beyond a joke and the editors have completely failed to see a 100% obvious spam website. The video is nothing but 6 images with fade outs and ins. Fucking retards.
1. Re:Spam Website by Legion303 · 2013-03-24 14:50 · Score: 1
  
  "This article should be pulled and whoever edited this fired."
  As soon as I read that I thought "probably Timothy." And oh, hey...
I heard Hitachi rolled their own ARM processor... by mrSnowman · 2013-03-23 11:31 · Score: 1

... for the car. They called it ARMPITS.
Back to tracking, always on topic by Trax3001BBS · 2013-03-23 11:33 · Score: 3, Interesting

Something wicked that link hides: "Web Site Blocked by NETGEAR Firewall"
http://www.shiotsu-used-car.com/blog/hitachi-selfdrivingroboticcar-ropits.htm
Made it past my HOSTS file and got caught by my router which is set up
for the Android Motorola XOOM and Playstation 3 (blocking the tracker Playstation.net).
You can complain about tracking, post to articles about it being wrong or you can do something about it.
"within a roughly 18 km wide sidewalk" by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-23 12:23 · Score: 0

Thats a really big sidewalk. I think someones rigging the testing...
If it works by kermidge · 2013-03-23 12:31 · Score: 1

it's the kind of thing that I could and would definitely use.
1. Re:If it works by jones_supa · 2013-03-24 03:28 · Score: 1
  
  Yes! Sign me up, too.
The company conducted a test in ... wide sidewalk. by SlashAdotter · 2013-03-23 13:00 · Score: 1

The company conducted a test in Tsukuba (Ibaraki Prefecture) within a roughly 18 km wide sidewalk.
Superior linkage by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-23 13:36 · Score: 1

This link includes some more information, as well as a link to a Youtube video of the car in action:
http://www.gizmag.com/hitachi-ropits-self-driving-urban-vehicle/26727/
human packet carrrier by fredness · 2013-03-23 17:55 · Score: 1

The silicon valley commute on 101 is no fun anymore, robot car take it from here please.
I dream of getting in the backseat of my car, punching in work parking lot, then reading/napping/web surfing as my robot car takes special robot only right of way routes, traffic lights, and such until I'm at work. The same heading home afterward.
THAT Hitachi? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-23 18:25 · Score: 0

Hitachi? Given that it's driverless, I imagine that what would be the gear shift stick probably has more horsepower than the engine that makes it drive, and meanwhile, is located right in the middle of the passenger seat...
The door opened. You got in. by RedBear · 2013-03-23 20:52 · Score: 1

Hell of a day, innit? De-do-doo.
This is wonderful news by tompaulco · 2013-03-24 00:49 · Score: 1

At 6 kilometers per hour, it will only take 5 hours to get to work instead of the 20 minutes it takes right now. Also, if I get bored, I can get off and walk. Of course, I would need to stop once in awhile and wait for it to to catch up.

--
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
1. Re:This is wonderful news by volmtech · 2013-03-24 10:29 · Score: 1
  
  An old lady muttered at my as I strode around her in a bank lobby years ago, "You will be old some day". When your hips wear out, 6 kph is a pretty good pace. So, yeah, you will be old some day.
Have they not seen 'Astroboy'? by ikhider · 2013-03-24 06:40 · Score: 1

Any manga/anime enthusiast knows the series started with a device just like this...

--
"SO we bide our time, waiting for a purer kick to bloom and the future is still bleak, uncertain and beautiful" -GSYBE
Sounds good to me by Lord+Byron+II · 2013-03-26 13:47 · Score: 1

I ended up in Tsukuba a few years back in the middle of the night, lost, with no GPS, and I don't speak a lick of English. I finally found a bus station and waited for a half-hour in the cold before one came by. I got on and it was just me and the driver and he spoke no English. Finally, by sketching out landmarks near my hotel, he managed to figure out where I needed to go and let me off at the nearest stop with some gestured-directions.
Anything that would have made that experience more pleasant is gladly appreciated.