Electric, internal combustion or hydrogen, the future of commercial road transport is in even more doubt than that of passenger cars. Now a new plan in Japan aims to make deliveries possible with no trucks at all.  

It is called an automated cargo transport corridor and is effectively a conveyor belt road. The plan is to build a 515km conveyor between Tokyo and Osaka. It will carry containers on pallets each capable of holding one ton of produce. Normal roads would run either side of the conveyor. It would form part of a network that would eventually link ports, airports and railways.

The concept is seen as a way of satisfying a growing need for goods deliveries without increasing CO2 emissions. It also provides a solution to a growing issue in Japan, that of truck driver shortages.  

Yuri Endo, a senior official at the transport ministry commented, “We need to be innovative with the way we approach roads. The key concept of the auto flow-road is to create dedicated spaces within the road network for logistics, utilising a 24-hour automated and unmanned transportation system.”

Yuri believes that when operational the conveyor could do the same amount of transportation as 25,000 trucks each day. 

The cost of the project is estimated at over €20 billion. Testing of the concept is expected to start in 2028, with a plan for completion by 2035.