Nissan Namie Smart Mobility 2026: how the municipal on-demand transport service works

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Five and a half years of trials are ending not with the project being shut down, but with it becoming a regular city service. Nissan says field testing of Namie Smart Mobility in Namie will finish at the end of September, and from October 1, 2026 the municipality will operate the system as public transport.

Nissan has been developing the project in Fukushima Prefecture since 2021. During that time, the service gained digital stops, QR-code vehicle requests, a travel program for children and interfaces refined using residents’ feedback. Nissan says the service is built around connected technologies and on-demand transport booking.

From October, the town will combine Namie Smart Mobility with its existing municipal on-demand taxi service. Moplus will provide operational support under contract, while Nissan’s service mechanisms and experience accumulated during the trials will become part of the town’s permanent transport system.

There is an important caveat: this is not a robotaxi launch. Namie Smart Mobility remains a driver-operated service. Separately, Nissan is developing another autonomous transport project, with a launch in Japan planned for the period after 2027. It is a different project at a different technological stage. Similar initiatives are expanding in Japan: fully autonomous Waymo taxis are planned for Tokyo in 2027, with the fleet later expected to grow to around 100 vehicles.

That is what makes Namie notable: the town has achieved a relatively rare outcome for an automotive experiment. The technology did not remain a demonstration; after several years of testing, it became a permanent transport service.