It isn't enough that Japan already has its iconic bullet train that's the envy of the world. No: it must now construct an entire "conveyor belt road" to embarrass us all.
Also referred to as an "autoflow road," the automated cargo transport corridor will span some 320 miles, linking Tokyo and Osaka in a bid to make up for the country's dire shortage in delivery capacity.
Calling it a "conveyor belt," however, is a tad misleading. It's not a blown-up moving walkway, and there's no conveyor mechanism. Instead, the road will facilitate the movement of an army of robotic pallets that can travel from destination and destination around the clock, carrying loads of cargo.
"We need to be innovative with the way we approach roads," Yuri Endo, a senior deputy director at Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism who is overseeing the project, told The Associated Press. "The key concept of the autoflow road is to create dedicated spaces within the road network, utilizing a 24-hour automated and unmanned transportation system."
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