Taisei, TIER IV and Taisei Rotec to Test Multi-Vehicle Autoflow Road in Japan
Taisei Corporation, TIER IV, Inc. and Taisei Rotec Corporation have been selected by Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) for a demonstration project that aims to speed up deployment of the Autoflow Road. The test will evaluate how several autonomous vehicles operate together in tunnel environments and other dedicated space.
- MLIT selected Taisei Corporation, TIER IV and Taisei Rotec for an Autoflow Road demonstration project.
- Three experimental autonomous vehicles will test platooning, merging, obstacle avoidance and other maneuvers in a full-scale tunnel facility.
- The test runs for 8 days from late October to early November 2026.
- The vehicles use TIER IV's Pilot.Auto, based on the open-source Autoware.
- The project builds on a FY2025 trial that confirmed potential feasibility but also identified operational challenges.
What the Autoflow Road is and what will be tested
The Autoflow Road is a logistics system promoted by MLIT. It is designed to move cargo with unmanned, automated vehicles inside purpose-built logistics lanes.
According to the announcement, the demonstration will evaluate multi-vehicle operations, including platooning, bidirectional driving, lane changes, merging and diverging, and obstacle avoidance. These maneuvers will be examined in tunnel environments and other dedicated space.
The companies will also test ways to simplify automotive sensors and roadside infrastructure optimized for dedicated lanes. In addition, they will validate T-Localizer®, Taisei Corporation's self-localization support technology, and evaluate the adaptability and scalability of Pilot.Auto, an autonomous driving system developed by TIER IV for logistics applications.
Setup, schedule and roles
The project will use three autonomous vehicles across straight and curved sections. It will verify core maneuvers: following, stopping, passing oncoming vehicles, merging and diverging, obstacle avoidance and berth stopping accuracy. It will also look at the required driving space widths, including standard, intermediate and minimum.
- Location: a 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 to early November 2026, for 8 days.
- Vehicles: 3 experimental autonomous vehicles running Pilot.Auto, which is based on Autoware, open-source software for autonomous driving.
The vehicles are passenger-car-based and used for testing purposes. The companies state that they do not represent the final dedicated transport hardware for the actual Autoflow Road deployment.
Taisei Corporation handles overall planning and execution, verification of T-Localizer® and infrastructure simplification, and data analysis. TIER IV provides the autonomous vehicles and driving system, runs test-driving operations, and acquires and analyzes driving data. Taisei Rotec Corporation is responsible for reflector installation planning, construction, measurement and field support.
Building on the FY2025 trial
The companies say that 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. 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.
The three companies took part in MLIT's FY2025 demonstration project, using a TIER IV autonomous vehicle and T-Localizer® alongside T-iPower® Road. According to the announcement, the results confirmed the potential applicability and feasibility of these technologies for the Autoflow Road, while also identifying operational challenges. The FY2026 demonstration builds on that work by adding multi-vehicle operations and a streamlined sensor layout and roadside infrastructure.
What it means
The companies say insights from the project will help clarify the respective roles of vehicle autonomy and road infrastructure. That, they say, lays the foundation for a lean and scalable deployment of the Autoflow Road. The announcement gives no deployment dates or performance figures, so the outcome of the eight-day test remains to be reported.
