Toyota is grounding all e-Palette self-driving vehicles currently operating within the athlete’s village at the Tokyo Paralympic Games. The decision follows an accident in which one of the vehicles ran into a visually impaired pedestrian on August 26.
In a statement, Toyota apologized to the pedestrian, a paralympic athlete. Reuters reports that the vehicle was driving at only 1 or 2 km/h (0.6-1.2 mph) when it struck the pedestrian, who remained conscious and was promptly taken to the athlete village medical center for treatment. Fortunately, they were able to walk back to their residence.
Read Also: Toyota Created A Funky Baseball-Themed EV For The Olympics
According to Toyota, the vehicle was at a T junction and about to turn under the control of the operator when the vehicle struck the athlete who was using the pedestrian crossing. Despite apparently being under manual control, the e-Palette is capable of driving fully autonomously.
Toyota said that it is suspending the use of all e-Palettes and is fully cooperating with the police investigation into the incident. It will also conduct its own investigation into the causes of the accident.
In a video, Toyota Chief Executive Akio Toyoda apologized for the incident and said that it shows the challenge of developing self-driving vehicles. According to Toyoda, “it shows that autonomous vehicles are not yet realistic for normal roads.”
He added that the athlete is still set to compete at their event on Saturday.