Japan to Replace Truck Drivers with 500-Kilometer Conveyor Belt

It will be built between Tokyo and Osaka, using transporters from mining enterprises as a basis. The Autoflow-Road system will include above-ground and underground sections and will be able to deliver as much cargo as 25 thousand drivers daily. The estimated completion date for construction is 2034. The cost of every 10 kilometers will be up to half a billion dollars.

Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has come up with an unusual proposal: to replace long-haul truck drivers with a conveyor belt. The idea was inspired by the mining company Phosboucraa, which delivers phosphate rock to the coast of Morocco via a conveyor belt about 100 kilometers long. The Japanese project is more ambitious. At a minimum, we are talking about a conveyor more than 500 kilometers long, which will be stretched between Tokyo and Osaka.

The conveyor belt network will be called Autoflow-Road and will include above-ground and underground sections. The conveyor is designed for loads weighing up to one ton, and if it operates around the clock, it will be able to deliver as much as 25 thousand drivers. The idea is akin to a space elevator, because its implementation will cost an astronomical amount. For example, the construction of a 10-kilometer tunnel is currently estimated at 80 billion yen, or half a billion dollars.

Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan

The conveyor belt is scheduled to be completed by 2034. By that time, Japan will still be short 36 percent of its drivers, and the impact of the shortage will be felt especially acutely in rural areas. The conveyor belt should solve this problem, and also help reduce emissions, which, according to the climate strategy, should be reduced by 46 percent by the beginning of the next decade.

No driver needed: driverless cars