{"height":"190","image_url":"https://cdn-ak.f.st-hatena.com/images/fotolife/s/sbn_tc_04/20210618/20210618165141.jpg","author_name":"sbn_tc_04","blog_title":"SoftBank News. Bringing IT closer to home. ","title":"BOLDLY's Autonomous Driving Business Addresses Japan's Challenging Demographics","type":"rich","url":"https://www.softbank.jp/en/sbnews/entry/20210622_01","version":"1.0","author_url":"https://blog.hatena.ne.jp/sbn_tc_04/","published":"2021-06-22 16:00:00","categories":["Future_Tech","Automated driving","IoT","_MV","_RECENT"],"blog_url":"https://www.softbank.jp/en/sbnews/","width":"100%","description":"More than most countries, Japan urgently needs to introduce autonomous driving vehicles ASAP. Beset by a falling birth rate and an aging population declining in numbers yearly, the country's workforce too is shrinking. One government agency is forecasting 12 million fewer workers by 2040. In the hard-hit transport industry, for instance, Japan's Railway Freight Association expects a shortage of 280,000 truck drivers in 2028. Meanwhile, the bus industry, barely profitable even before the COVID-19 pandemic, is suffering from a chronic shortage of drivers.","provider_url":"https://hatena.blog","html":"","provider_name":"Hatena Blog"}