Fumio Taniguchi is a 78-year-old former police officer who drives an electric golf cart around Nankadai, a quiet neighborhood in the Osaka suburb of Kawachi-Nagano.
Taniguchi gives rides to even older Nankadai residents who are no longer willing or able to drive themselves. His golf cart does most of the work: The seven-seater, which is made by Yamaha and looks like something that would shuttle families around an amusement park, is a “level 2” autonomous vehicle, which can accelerate, turn and brake on its own, under supervision of a driver. It follows a barely visible magnetic track that is embedded in the streets that make up Taniguchi's route, which starts and ends at Nankadai’s central supermarket.
“Sometimes you have to steer around a parked car,” Taniguchi said on a recent afternoon as he captained the cart through Nankadai at a gentle 12 kph. “The automatic brakes are good but they kick in a little late, so I usually step on the pedal myself.”