In Japan, a motorway connecting Tokyo and Nagoya will soon have a lane designated for self-driving trucks.

The goal is to make it possible for the first driverless trucks to go on a designated route in total safety and apart from other vehicles.

According to Nikkei Asia, the project involves developing a 100 km road that will be exclusively used by driverless trucks initially only at night.

In theory, self-driving cars would be ideal for this reasonably straight road with three lanes on each side. Whether or not human-driven cars will also be allowed to use the lane is still uncertain.

The project is expected to be up and running by 2024. But in order to do so, it will be necessary to install sensors and cameras at regular intervals along the entire route, all connected in 5G, for real-time data transfer without latency.

In this way, if obstacles are detected, approaching vehicles will be able to automatically slow down or even stop in the event of a serious risk of collision.