In July, the Japanese government outlined an intriguing idea to connect major cities. giant “conveyor belt” for cargo. We now have a clearer picture of what the “Automatic Flow Path” will look like.

Trucks are the most preferred vehicles for transporting cargo between and within cities, but they are not a perfect solution. They’re big and noisy, they disrupt traffic flow, they spew carbon dioxide at alarming rates, and they require a lot of human drivers.

This last point is the one that the Japanese government is currently most concerned about. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) expects the transport sector to see a 34% capacity deficit by 2030 compared to now.

The Automated Flow Path project was designed to overcome this problem. Essentially, this will be a special highway for autonomous cargo pods, allowing them to transport goods day and night without impeding old-fashioned human-driven traffic. These lanes will make use of existing road space such as shoulders or medians, and some sections can even be built into underground tunnels.

Warehouses will be built in major provinces and will be largely autonomous. When the cargo reaches the nearest warehouse, autonomous forklifts unload the cargo and pack it into compartments. These then drive themselves via the Automatic Flow Path to the warehouse closest to their destination. From there, trucks (or perhaps drones or other vehicles) would carry them the rest of the way.

MLIT

But the most interesting part is that the capsules actually separate themselves en route. They may park themselves in a “Buffering Lane” in the middle of the Automatic Flow Path to wait for others to get to the same location or to better time their arrival.

There are several reasons to do this. First, you don’t need large storage spaces in warehouses; You can use hundreds of kilometers between them. It can also reduce congestion by spreading traffic flow throughout the day and night. Arrival times can be coordinated more precisely so truck drivers don’t wait too long.

This may seem like parked pods are ducks in the road waiting for thieves, but the images so far all show the Automatic Flow Path covered by a glass dome. The goal here may be to keep people out; to prevent accidents, traffic jams, or bad characters messing up your underwear you ordered from Amazon.

To make sure everything flows smoothly, the cargo needs to fit on pallets that are 1.1 m (3.6 ft) wide and stand up to 1.8 m (5.9 ft) high. Smaller, irregularly shaped packages can be stacked inside cages of the same size.

If the idea works, the system could handle the work of 12,000 to 17,000 people per day, according to the Japanese government. This could be a huge benefit as online orders continue to increase while the human workforce decreases.

Of course, this is a fairly large undertaking, and the Japanese government is currently seeking expressions of interest from private companies to build the infrastructure or components of it.

The initial goal is to build a test track along the 500-kilometer (310-mile) highway between Tokyo and Osaka, Japan’s largest artery. Testing is planned to begin in 2027 and become fully operational by the mid-2030s.

Check out an animated display of the system in the video below (you may need to turn on English subtitles).

Source: MLIT through AP News