Toyota suspends self-driving bus operations after hitting a Paralympic athlete.

As a sponsor of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, Toyota introduced its e-Palette autonomous bus service, capable of operating 24/7, to serve this year's Games. Unfortunately, on August 26th, one of these buses struck visually impaired judoka Aramitsu Kitazono of the Japanese Paralympic team.

Specifically, as the car left the intersection and drove onto the pedestrian crossing, it struck Mr. Kitazono who was crossing the road. The victim sustained head and leg injuries, which will prevent him from competing in the men's 81 kg category on August 28th and will require at least two weeks to recover.

Tokyo police said the drivers stated they had “seen a person standing in the road but thought he would notice the approaching bus and stop.”

Toyota's president, Akio Toyoda, personally apologized, saying, "We deeply regret the accident that caused so much concern. This incident shows that self-driving vehicles are not yet widely applicable in practice."

Mr. Toyoda went to the accident site and reviewed the video footage of the incident. He admitted to having "overestimated trust" in autonomous driving technology.

Toyota later issued a statement: "We will conduct a thorough investigation into the cause of the accident and continue to cooperate closely with the Organizing Committee of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games to ensure that any further unfortunate incidents are prevented in the future."

Yoshiyasu Endo, Kitozano's coach, told the Japan Times that the 30-year-old athlete is recovering well. "He wants to take good care of himself. We all feel regret, but I think he's the most disappointed," Endo said.

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