TIER IV to Run Driverless Dump Trucks at Japanese Port by End of 2028

TIER IV wants driverless dump trucks operating at a Japanese port by the end of 2028. The company announced on November 12, 2026 that it has launched a collaboration with Shunan Bulk Terminal to automate a crewed dump-truck route at the Port of Tokuyama-Kudamatsu. Tokuyama, the chemical manufacturer that owns the terminal, supports the project.

The announcement puts a hard deadline on one of Japan's more concrete industrial-automation efforts. Ports across Japan's coastal industrial zones face chronic driver shortages as the country's workforce ages and shrinks. This project pairs that labor problem with an emissions goal, and it gives the autonomous-driving industry a real industrial customer rather than another pilot on public roads.

What exactly will be automated?

The initial work covers an existing route. Trucks run from Shunan Bulk Terminal's storage area to Tokuyama's in-house power generation facilities.

The companies will develop two things in parallel: the autonomous-driving technologies and the operational framework required at that specific site. That includes the on-site requirements tied to Tokuyama's receipt of energy resources. In other words, the trucks must slot into an industrial process that already exists, not the other way around.

The route itself is short and bounded. It sits entirely inside a working port complex. That makes it a different proposition from robotaxi deployments, where the challenge is the open unpredictability of public streets.

Who are the players?

Shunan Bulk Terminal is a bulk-cargo handling and transportation company operating at the port. It is a consolidated subsidiary of Tokuyama, the chemical manufacturer. The terminal unloads, stores and dispatches energy resources, including coal and biomass fuels, at the Port of Tokuyama-Kudamatsu.

The port matters beyond this one project. It is an international bulk strategic port on the Seto Inland Sea in Yamaguchi Prefecture, a designation that reflects its role in Japan's raw-material logistics.

Tokuyama uses the resources the terminal handles to generate electricity and steam at its in-house facilities. That power supports production of chemicals, advanced electronic materials and other products. So the dump-truck route is a link in an energy supply chain, not a standalone logistics job.

Why is TIER IV doing this?

TIER IV contributes expertise in developing, deploying and operating autonomous-driving technology. Shunan Bulk Terminal brings experience in dump-truck transportation. Each side supplies what the other lacks.

TIER IV's work rests on Autoware, its open-source software for autonomous driving. The company's portfolio already spans several domains:

• public transportation
• specialized construction vehicles
• agricultural vehicles
• factory-transport vehicles

A driverless dump truck inside a port fits that pattern. It is another bounded, industrial application where the operating environment can be engineered along with the vehicle.

Where does the fuel come in?

The autonomous dump truck is planned to run on Idemitsu Renewable Diesel, a biofuel supplied by Idemitsu Kosan. Idemitsu Kosan is one of Shunan Bulk Terminal's shareholders, which makes the fuel choice a family affair as well as an environmental one.

The companies aim to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions associated with transportation through the biofuel's use. That gives the project two stated objectives: saving labor in a shrinking workforce and cutting emissions from freight movement.

The pairing is notable. Most autonomous-trucking stories lead with labor economics alone. Here the emissions target is written into the project from the start, and it is a near-term one — attached to trucks expected to run without drivers before 2029.

Why does this matter for Japan's ports?

The companies identify two structural pressures. First, driver shortages resulting from Japan's aging and shrinking workforce. Second, rising demand for labor-saving and more sustainable transportation.

Ports in Japan's coastal industrial areas carry a double load. They support trade with Asian and other global markets. They also store and transport raw materials and energy resources for manufacturers. When drivers disappear, both functions feel it.

Automation at ports and nearby coastal areas is the companies' proposed answer. The Tokuyama-Kudamatsu project serves as the test case for whether autonomous dump trucks can carry that answer in practice.

What happens after 2028?

The initial route is a beginning, not an endpoint. After gaining deployment and operating experience on the first route, the companies plan to explore automation of similar transportation operations in and around the Port of Tokuyama-Kudamatsu.

The broader work is presented as an opportunity to investigate. The initial collaboration supplies the knowledge on which that expansion would build.

That framing sets the stakes. Integration with Tokuyama's existing energy-supply process is central to the project's wider value. The technical system and the site's operating framework must develop together before the experience can inform automation beyond the original route.

In practice, that means the end-of-2028 deadline is a gate. If the trucks run reliably on the storage-to-power-plant route, the partners have a template for other bulk-cargo movements around the port. If they don't, the expansion stays theoretical.

The project also gives Autoware a reference point in heavy industrial freight. Open-source autonomous-driving software has found its clearest commercial footing in exactly these environments — closed routes, repeatable tasks, cooperative operators. A working driverless fuel route at an international bulk strategic port by 2028 would strengthen that case with an operator, a chemical manufacturer and a fuel supplier all aligned behind it.