Photo/Illutration A Robohon is installed on the front passenger seat for a demo experiment in January in Yao, Osaka Prefecture. (Nanami Watanabe)

YAO, Osaka Prefecture—A small humanoid robot with phone functions is riding shotgun in a series of experiments to help elderly drivers avoid making potentially deadly traffic mistakes.

The project is jointly led by Nagoya University, Sharp Corp. and two other entities. It uses Sharp’s Robohon humanoid phone.

In January, six drivers in their 60s and 70s gathered at the Yao Driving School here and took turns driving on public roads.

Installed on the front passenger seat, the Robohon talked to the driver to provide information about stop signs, speed limits and other regulations.

The information given reduced the usual number of dangerous traffic violations, such as running stop signs, according to the project team.

Demonstrations will be held across the country starting in April, with commercialization of a driving assistance system expected by the end of March 2027.

According to Takahiro Tanaka, a specially appointed professor at the Institutes of Innovation for Future Society of Nagoya University, the project makes use of the “passenger effect,” in which the presence of someone sitting beside the driver leads to reduced accident rates.

When Tanaka ran a simulation using a robot to support the driver, the machine proved more effective than a human passenger in preventing speeding, sudden stops and other traffic problems.

“The effects are more stable when a robot, not a human, accompanies the driver because it gives its all for the driver, even when they are frustrated," Tanaka said.

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