Aramitsu Kitazono out of the Paralympics after crash with self-driving bus

Visually-impaired Japanese judo athlete Aramitsu Kitazono was left with cuts and bruises after the bus reportedly drove through a pedestrian crossing. The incident took place on Thursday when one of the buses pulled away from a T-junction and drove through a pedestrian crossing. It hit Kitazono, 30, who is visually impaired, as he was walking across.

Toyota has suspended its self-driving bus service in the Paralympic athletes’ village after a vehicle hit an athlete, leaving them unable to compete in the Games.

Japanese athlete Aramitsu Kitazono sustained cuts and bruises during the incident, forcing him to pull out of his competition in the Judo 81kg category this weekend.

The president of Toyota, which has been running a driverless shuttle service in the village as part of its sponsorship of the Games, apologised for the incident and admitted “there had been overconfidence” in the technology of autonomous driving.

“We are very sorry that the accident has made many people worried,” president Akio Toyoda said. “A vehicle is stronger than a person, so I was obviously worried about how they were. It shows that autonomous vehicles are not yet realistic for normal roads.”

The bus was reportedly driving at just 1 to 2 kilometers per hour.

Kitazono’s coach, Yoshiyasu Endo, told the Japan Times that the athlete was recovering well but was deeply disappointed.

“He wanted to take good care of himself. We feel regret, but I think he is the most disappointed,” Endo said.

In a statement, Toyato said it would “conduct our own thorough investigation into the cause of the accident” and “continue to coordinate closely with the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games to ensure that we prevent any incidents from occurring in the future.”