Japan has the problem of an increase in the number of elderly people and a simultaneous decline in the birth rate. Because of this they are also faced with a lack of manpower. Among those affected is the logistics industry due to the lack of truck drivers. The solution to this issue is to build the Autoflow-Road which is a 500 km long conveyor belt connecting Tokyo and Osaka.
Cargo up to 1 ton can be carried by Autoflow-Road instead of trucks. It will operate 24 hours a day and can replace the work of more than 25,000 human truck drivers. Existing roads, tunnels and road medians will be used to build the Autoflow-Road. Large cargo will be transported using an underground tunnel system before a small conveyor belt system on the ground is used to deliver smaller packages to recipients.
Japan has around 660,000 delivery drivers in 2020 but this will decrease to 480,000 by 2030. Unlike other countries, Japan does not use foreign workers to fill local industrial labor needs.
Instead, automation and robots will be used, including those controlled remotely by people with disabilities who work from home. These robots have already been used by Lawson to sort goods in their chain of convenience stores since last year.
In addition, the exoskeleton was developed to allow human workers to work without being injured or limited by age factors. This is all part of the Japanese government's plan to deal with the labor shortage issue by 2050.