Toyota temporarily stops AV fleet after Paralympian collision

Toyota has resumed operations of its e-Palette autonomous vehicle shuttles at the Tokyo Paralympic Games athletes’ village after suspending them when one reportedly hit and injured a Paralympian there.

Japan’s Aramitsu Kitazono suffered scrapes and bruises and was unable to continue at the games, Automotive News reports, adding Kitazono was due to compete in the men’s judo 81kg division for the visually impaired on August 28.

Kitazono was about to cross the road when the collision occurred, says Toyota which explains it’s fully cooperating with a police investigation.

Toyota will also do its own investigation into the cause and will continue to work closely with the games’ Tokyo organising committee to prevent any further incidents.

However, Reuters reports the AV was under manual control when it hit Kitazono at about 1-2km/h.

Toyota had earlier planned to have 16 e-Palette AVs operating at the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.

The e-Palette AV service at the Paralympics Village has resumed with additional safety measures in place, Toyota says.