Toyota has suspended all services of its driverless pod at the Olympic village in Japan after an accident between it and a Paralympics competitor.
The car company’s issued a statement to say that on Thursday 26 August, a Toyota e-Palette mobility vehicle used to support mobility within the Athletes’ Village at the Olympic and Paralympic Games collided with a visually impaired pedestrian about to cross a pedestrian crossing.
The company has expressed its “sincerest apologies to the individual that was injured due to this unfortunate collision and we wish them a speedy recovery,” adding, “we would also like to apologise for any inconvenience caused to those who use our mobility vehicles in the Athletes’ Village.”
Toyota says all operations of the e-Palette are currently suspended. In a statement it added, “We are fully cooperating with the police investigation into the incident in order to determine the cause of this accident. In addition, we will conduct our own thorough investigation into the cause of the accident and we will continue to coordinate closely with the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games to ensure that we prevent any incidents from occurring in the future.”
UPDATE – Sky News reports the shuttle is now running again.
(Picture – Toyota)
