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Japanese project combines tunnels, automated vehicles, and dedicated corridors to tackle freight transport bottlenecks, as the country seeks to reduce emissions and adapt its logistics to an increasingly aging population.
Japan updated on July 31, 2025 the Autoflow Road plan, an automated freight corridor under study to connect Tokyo to Osaka over approximately 500 km.
The proposal, led by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan, envisions the transportation of goods via dedicated lanes on highways, side areas, or underground tunnels, with continuous and driverless operation.
The project has gained international attention for combining underground infrastructure, automation, and large-scale electric transportation.
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At the heart of the initiative is a logistical problem already identified by the Japanese government: the reduction of the workforce in the trucking sector, pressured by the aging population, low worker renewal, and new working hours regulations.
According to the Associated Press, the driver shortage became known in the country as the “2024 problem”, following the implementation of limits on overtime in road transport.
The measure aims to reduce overload and accidents but also decreases the operational capacity of a sector that relies on long trips to keep goods circulating between industrial regions, agricultural areas, and consumption centers.
The Autoflow Road is not limited to the image of a conventional conveyor belt.
The latest concept described by the Japanese government involves automated electric vehicles, boxes on wheels, exclusive corridors, logistics terminals, and automated loading and unloading systems.
The official report also mentions the need for integration with hubs, refrigeration, automatic sorting, and connection with other transport modes.
How the automatic freight road between Tokyo and Osaka would work
The main axis under analysis connects Tokyo to Osaka, two of Japan’s most important economic regions.
The route could use spaces currently available in the central reservation, shoulder, or underground of existing highways, always with physical separation between the freight flow and common traffic.
In the planned operation, goods would be placed on pallets or standardized containers and moved by automatic equipment to logistics centers connected to trucks, railways, ports, and airports.
Traditional road transport, therefore, would not cease to exist, but would become more focused on local distribution and the final stages of delivery.
The speed of transport is still one of the points under development.
The report from the Ministry of Transport works with a range between 30 km/h and 80 km/h, considering 24-hour operation, 10-meter spacing between vehicles, and capacity distributed over three lanes.
In this scenario, the official estimate for the Tokyo-Osaka corridor is 216,000 to 576,000 tons per day.
This projected capacity depends on technical factors not yet defined on a real scale, such as type of equipment, load standard, average speed, operational safety, maintenance, and integration with distribution centers.
Therefore, the Japanese government treats the Autoflow Road as infrastructure in the planning and testing phase, not as a project already contracted for full implementation.
Why Japan Wants to Reduce Dependence on Trucks
Cargo transport in Japan is heavily based on highways.
The Associated Press reported that about 90% of the country’s cargo is transported by trucks, which increases the logistics system’s exposure to driver shortages and changes in working hours in the sector.
Pressure on logistics has increased with the rise of e-commerce deliveries.
According to data cited by the AP, the use of online shopping went from about 40% of Japanese households to more than 60%, a movement that increased the volume of orders while the country’s population continued to decline.
The impact is not limited to urban deliveries.
Perishable products, such as fruits, vegetables, and refrigerated foods, depend on fast transport to avoid losses and reduction in commercial value.
In rural areas, where the distance to major markets is greater, the lack of drivers can affect deadlines, costs, and product availability.
For the Japanese government, automating part of the long routes would allow for continuous cargo movement, with less dependence on prolonged human work hours.
This change does not eliminate the need for workers in the logistics chain, but it alters the role of some of them, especially in control centers, maintenance, sorting, and final delivery.
Emissions Enter the Calculation of the Autoflow Road
In addition to the labor issue, the Autoflow Road also appears in official documents as a response to the need to reduce emissions in cargo transport.
The final report states that the system should rely on automation, standardization, and carbon neutrality, with integration to railways, waterways, and low-emission technologies.
Estimates from the Ministry of Transport indicate that the corridor could cover 8% to 22% of the future logistics capacity deficit projected for the fiscal year 2030.
In the same scenario, the system could offset 21,280 to 56,747 daily driver journeys and reduce 2.39 million to 6.39 million tons of CO₂ per year, according to the operating conditions considered in the study.
The discussion also connects to the global weight of freight transport in emissions.
The International Transport Forum, linked to the OECD, estimates that freight transport related to international trade accounts for more than 7% of global CO₂ emissions and about 30% of emissions from the transport sector.
In the Japanese case, the national climate goal aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 46% by the fiscal year 2030, compared to 2013.
The country also presented subsequent targets of 60% by 2035 and 73% by 2040, according to documents submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
What still needs to be defined in the automated corridor
The proposal still depends on technical, financial, and regulatory decisions.
The Ministry of Transport’s report states that it will be necessary to define routes, hub locations, business model, load standards, operating rules, safety, pricing, reservation methods, and responsibilities in case of failure or accident.
The cost also remains one of the main uncertainties.
The Guardian, based on information from AP and Yomiuri Shimbun, reported that a link between Tokyo and Osaka could reach 3.7 trillion yen, a value mainly associated with tunnel construction.
The Japanese government, however, has not yet released a definitive official estimate for the entire stretch.
The next planned step is to test the technology on a smaller scale.
The final document from the ministry foresees experiments until 2027 in existing facilities and in sections under construction of the Shin-Tomei expressway.
After that, the schedule indicates a development phase between 2028 and the mid-2030s, with operation in viable sections projected for the mid-2030s.
The participation of the private sector is also part of the project design.
On July 31, 2025, 104 companies were part of the consortium created to discuss technologies, operating models, financing, and technical demonstrations related to the Autoflow Road.
Automation and freight logistics in Japan
The Japanese plan attracts attention because it brings to transportation infrastructure a common logic in factories, ports, and distribution centers: moving cargo through automated, standardized, and monitored systems.
The difference lies in the scale, as the proposed corridor would span hundreds of kilometers and connect two large metropolitan regions.
Even if it progresses, the Autoflow Road does not fully replace the current network of trucks.
Final delivery, neighborhood supply, collection from companies, and service to regions outside the corridor would still depend on other vehicles and workers.
The project aims to reduce pressure on long routes, where the repetition of routes and high cargo volume favor automation.
The proposal also shows how countries with aging populations are beginning to test infrastructure solutions to keep essential services running.
In Japan, the transportation of goods has come to be treated not only as an economic issue but also as a topic linked to supply, climate, technology, and work organization.
The challenge will be to transform an engineering plan into a viable system for companies, logistics operators, and consumers.
Cost, safety, cargo standardization, and integration with trucks, trains, ports, and airports will be among the factors that may determine the real reach of the Autoflow Road in the coming years.
If the technology works in the planned tests, Japan could create a model of automated long-distance transportation observed by other countries with similar labor, emissions, and congestion issues.
Even so, the scale of the project requires technical proof before the idea can move from being an experimental corridor to becoming part of the national logistics routine.
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