NTT Mobility to test a map-free self-driving bus in Tokyo from February

NTT Mobility to test a map-free self-driving bus in Tokyo from February

13 November 2026: NTT Mobility, the NTT group company set up in December 2025, will drive an autonomous bus on public roads around the NTT Musashino R&D Center in Tokyo from February 2027 using Imagry's end-to-end driving system, which works from cameras and does not need a high-definition map of the route. The bus, made by eVersum, is due to be delivered on 7 December 2026, and the public-road phase starts at SAE Level 2 with a driver on board.

Not yet independently verified. The plan and the claim to be the first HD-map-less autonomous bus trial on public roads in Japan are NTT Mobility's own, the latter based on its own web search in November 2026. The release names no route, speed or passenger numbers. We will update this when it can be confirmed, and remove this note.

Why the route map matters

Most autonomous bus services in Japan run on routes that have first been surveyed into a centimetre-level HD map, and the map has to be built and kept up to date before a vehicle can drive. NTT Mobility's argument is that this is costly and slows down every new route. A system that drives without one could, in its words, make expanding to new routes more flexible, and the trial is set up to test exactly that: the bus is to be evaluated on routes that have had no map preparation.

Imagry, based in Israel, supplies the Autonomous Driving Kit. As the release describes it, the system uses cameras with no LiDAR and no pre-built HD map, and combines learned AI models with rule-based traffic logic for stops, right of way, speed limits and ride comfort. It is modular, split into recognition, decision, route planning, speed and control, so parts such as the detection of Japanese traffic signals can be updated on their own.

The timetable to April 2027

The schedule NTT Mobility gives runs in stages:

• 18 to 20 November 2026: the bus is shown at NTT R&D FORUM 2026;
• 7 December 2026: vehicle delivery planned;
• from December 2026: tuning and tests on private ground;
• from February 2027: public-road driving at Level 2 with a driver;
• from April 2027: driving evaluation and a list of issues to solve.

The test field is the company's "Co-Creation Hub" around the Musashino research site, including nearby public roads.

What the trial is meant to prove

The evaluation list is long and concrete. It covers driving on the left under Japanese signals and rules, ride quality and safety, how the bus handles parked cars, pedestrians and bicycles, recognition in bad weather and at night, whether the AI's decisions can be explained and checked, how much the system depends on its training data, how safety should be assessed, links to remote monitoring, legal compliance and operating cost. The stated aim is commercial operation with transport operators.

Imagry's record so far, as NTT Mobility gives it, includes public transport trials in Israel, electric bus test driving in Spain and projects in Germany and Latvia, with unmanned commercial operation in those countries expected in fiscal 2027.

For bus operators and local authorities weighing autonomous services, the question this trial answers is cost per new route. If a camera-only bus can be brought onto an unmapped route at Level 2 and evaluated within months, the mapping bill that has held back many small-town pilots changes. The April 2027 evaluation is the first point at which NTT Mobility says it will compile results.

Sources

• NTT Mobility: release on its HD-map-less autonomous bus public-road trial (Japanese, via PR TIMES), 13 November 2026