Tier IV unveils an in-house robotaxi prototype

Japanese tech company Tier IV has demonstrated a self-driving vehicle that it designed and built on its own. Later on, the company hopes to mass-produce these as autonomous taxis.

Allegedly built on a proprietary EV platform, the Tier IV lacks conventional controls and can only go in automatic mode. A voice assistant on board listens to the passengers and can interpret commands, such as “change the route” or “make a detour”.

The company has been developing its own self-driving software solutions for 10 years now. It’s already testing the first autonomous cars on the streets of Tokyo, but those are all based on the mass-produced Toyota JPN Taxi.