- A visually impaired man was knocked down by a self-driving bus on a crosswalk in Tokyo.
- Since then, the operation of the vehicle has been suspended.
- Neither Tokyo 2020 nor Toyota confirmed the person who was hit by the vehicle, but several local media named the injured pedestrian as the Japanese Judo Kitaen Aramitsu.
Organizers said on Friday that a visually impaired man was knocked down by a self-driving bus in the Tokyo Paralympic Village, adding that the accident did not cause “traumatic injuries.”
According to organizers and Toyota, which developed the autonomous shuttle bus for the compound, the accident occurred on Thursday afternoon.
The company said that after the accident, it had suspended the operation of the vehicles, and one of the electric buses was “in contact with a visually impaired pedestrian” on the crosswalk.
The company added: “We apologize for the injured. We are fully cooperating with the police in this case.”
Tokyo 2020 stated that the man hit by the bus underwent a “comprehensive examination” and “no injuries were found.”
The organizer added: “The shuttle bus service in the village has been temporarily suspended. Once it is deemed safe, it will resume operations as soon as possible.”
Neither Tokyo 2020 nor Toyota has confirmed the person who was hit by the vehicle, but several local media have named the injured pedestrian a Japanese Judo Kitaen Aramitsu.
Local media said that the 30-year-old fell and took two weeks to recover from the injury. The public broadcaster NHK reported that he will miss Saturday’s game due to “poor physical condition”.
The report added that his coach said that he made this decision after talking to Beiyuan and consulting the doctor who treated him.
Japan’s “Asahi Shimbun” stated that two bus operators in charge of supervising the operation of autonomous driving said that they noticed the athlete but thought he would stop walking when the bus approached.
According to the “Daily News”, the bus stopped automatically, but the operator pressed the start button because they believed that pedestrians would not walk on the road.
Asahi said there were five passengers in the car but no one was injured, adding that no pedestrians were on crutches and there was a traffic controller at the intersection.
Thousands of athletes and team officials stayed in the Paralympic Village to participate in the Olympic Games that started on Tuesday and were postponed due to the virus.
During the Olympics, the Athletes Village also used self-driving buses.
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