JAL and Toyota Industries to Test Driverless Towing Routes Through Haneda Airport Tunnels

November 2026 trials will challenge Level 4 autonomous tractors on more complex routes while testing coordination with Japan’s shared airport infrastructure.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• JAL and Toyota Industries will begin Level 4 autonomous towing trials at Haneda Airport in November 2026.
• New routes include tunnel sections with operating conditions different from the current commercial routes.
• The trials will assess transport requirements and interaction with shared infrastructure developed by Japan Civil Aviation Bureau.
• The companies are targeting more efficient and less labour-intensive ground handling, with possible future deployment at other Japanese airports.

A new test of driverless transport at Tokyo Haneda Airport will take autonomous cargo-towing technology onto more demanding routes, including tunnels, as Japan looks for ways to make airport ground operations less dependent on drivers.

Japan Airlines (JAL) and Toyota Industries Corporation plan to start the trials in November 2026 using a towing tractor developed by Toyota Industries. The vehicles will be evaluated for Level 4 autonomous driving, a designation that allows fully unmanned operation within defined conditions rather than unrestricted driving anywhere on an airport.

Why the new routes present a bigger test

Haneda is not starting from scratch. JAL began commercial Level 4 towing operations at the airport on 15 December 2025, using shared facilities installed by the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB), including signalling equipment and cameras. What changes in November is the operating environment: the proposed route extensions include tunnels, where conditions are substantially different from those on the routes already in use.

The two companies intend to examine the practical requirements for operating a driverless towing tractor under these conditions and identify challenges that would need to be resolved before wider deployment. Their evaluation will also cover how the tractor interacts with additional common-use infrastructure being developed by JCAB, according to the 30 October joint announcement.

For airlines, the distinction between an established automated route and a more complex one matters. Towing vehicles form part of the network of ground equipment that moves cargo and other loads across airport operating areas. Extending where they can travel autonomously could make the technology useful across a broader range of everyday airside tasks, but the new trial routes remain a test rather than an announced expansion of regular commercial service.

Part of a wider shift in Japanese airport operations

JAL and Toyota Industries say their longer-term objectives include improving ground-handling efficiency, reducing labour requirements and limiting environmental impact through electric vehicles. Those are intended benefits, not measured outcomes from the November trials, whose specific start date and duration were not disclosed in the announcement.

JAL’s autonomous towing programme has also begun reaching airports outside the capital. In a separate announcement on 26 October, the airline said Level 4 towing operations had started at Fukuoka Airport, following earlier deployments at Haneda and Narita. The Fukuoka operation uses a different manufacturer’s vehicle and is distinct from the forthcoming Toyota Industries tests at Haneda.

The immediate question at Haneda is whether driverless towing can be made to work reliably across a greater variety of airport environments. Lessons from the November assessment could help inform decisions about further route extensions and the companies’ ambition to bring autonomous ground-handling technologies to more airports across Japan.