The Japanese government has launched plans for a Autoflow-Road conveyor belt system between Tokyo and Osaka that could carry the same amount of freight as 25,000 truck drivers every day. With Japan’s population falling at a rapid rate, there will be numerous impacts on the country in the coming years – not least of all the number of delivery drivers needed to move goods around.
According to a recent study by Nomura Research Institute, the amount of delivery drivers in Japan is set to plummet from 660,000 in 2020 to just 480,000 by 2030. With online shopping continuing to escalate, however, there is a real possibility that the transport industry will be unable to meet freight demands.
Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism is proposing a project that will not only address this logistics problem but also help reduce carbon emissions from freight transport. The solution is to build a network of hi-tech, automated conveyor belts – called the Autoflow-Road – to transport goods over an estimated 310 miles (500km) between Tokyo and Osaka.