Tokyo, Jan. 6, 2022—In the Tokyo Olympics Village in August 2021, a Tokyo Paralympics judo athlete with vision impairment was hit by a driverless vehicle, e-Pallet, operated by Toyota Motor Corp. On Jan. 6, 2022, Japanese police exonerated the automaker for the accident and instead indicted a Toyota employee whose role was the watchman of the vehicle that was operated at level-2 autonomous driving mode.
Level-2 mode means the driver, not the vehicle, is responsible for accidents, so the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department leveled the slap-on-wrist punishment to the driver, exonerating Toyota of any responsibility, according to Japanese media reports. Japanese media reported the MPD decision in a tone of defending Toyota.
But was the automaker really not responsible at all for the e-Pallet that it touted as fully driverless at motor shows? Why Toyota presented the vehicle to the Olympic Village as totally safe, driverless (watchman was aboard to make extra sure of safety) vehicle, and why the Japan Olympic Committee bought Toyota’s claims for safety?
Police nevertheless determined that Toyota was not responsible at all. For the simple reason that Toyota is the most powerful, biggest company in Japan with intricate connections with government, including police – which uses mostly Toyota Crown passenger cars as police cruisers.
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