Kochi Ekimae Kanko, based in Kochi Prefecture, has developed its original “Sommeil profond” full-flat seat for buses, and held a presentation at its headquarters in Kochi City. The company also showed the media an actual bus that it plans to operate in the future.
The name “Sommeille Profond” means “sound sleep” in French, and was named with the hope that passengers will enjoy a good night’s sleep even on long-distance rides. The seats consist of one unit with two seats in the front and two in the rear, and can be manually transformed into a standard “SEATFORM,” in which the seats sit side by side, or into a fully flat “FLATFORM,” in which the seats are deployed vertically. However, at this time, the car will not be transformed during operation, even when the train is stopped, but will be transformed in the garage. When the train is put into operation, it will basically be operated in full-flat form.
The company currently operates a four-row seat service between Kochi and Tokyo (Tokyo Disney Resort) as the Smile Liner, and plans to monitor additional flights on the same course. The official operation is scheduled for the fall of 2025, and the details of the route are under consideration.
In accordance with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism guidelines announced last year, the seats are placed forward-facing to protect the head and neck in the event of a collision, the foot area is covered with fall prevention plates and shock absorbing materials, and protective materials are installed for the head and side areas.
The vehicle is also equipped with a two-point seat belt that stops at the waist to prevent the driver from being thrown out of the seat when the vehicle rolls over. This is also worn when sleeping. The flat recline allows the passenger to sleep completely on his or her side, and the safety features of the system ensure that the passenger can sleep on his or her side.
It complies with vehicle storage standards and has been inspected and patented. Curtains can be used to block off the space from the next door to ensure privacy.
Unit sizes range from 172 to 150 cm in height and 48 cm in seat width; when fully flat, the unit is 180 cm in length, 73 to 51 cm in height in the upper space, and 51 cm in the lower space; the floor slants from front to back, so the upper space in the front is wider. It is sized to accommodate 12 units (24 seats) per large bus, and can be arranged depending on the type of bus to which the units are attached. The company plans to supply the product to other companies upon request.
The 178-cm-tall reporter actually tried lying down, and although it was a bit of a struggle to get into the car, it was surprisingly comfortable once he was lying down. Although there were no restrictions on height or weight at the time of the ride, Akitoshi Umehara, president of Kochi Ekimae Kanko, says, “We will review the operation based on future feedback, including from the monitored rides. We do not consider this to be the end of the project, but would like to work together with everyone to make it a reality.
In the test run, children had no problem, and even those over 180 cm tall were able to ride it by bending their legs. He told us, “I experienced both the upper and lower sections during the test run on the highway, and I was surprised at how smooth the ride was, with less vibration than I had imagined before getting in. Once you fall asleep, you should be able to travel long distances in comfort,” he told us about his impressions of the ride.
Mr. Umehara, president of the company, took the stage at the presentation and explained the details of the SOMEIL PROFONT. The company announced that it will begin operating a monitored service between Kochi and Tokyo on March 4, with reservations accepted from February 7, and one-way fares set at 7,300 yen for the monitored service. Reservations can only be made online through the “Shutsugan Ourai Net” reservation system.
The fare will not be a fixed fare because of the use of AI-based dynamic pricing, but we expect the fare to be approximately 14,000 yen when the service is officially in operation. Currently, the fares for 3-row seats of other airlines are around 10,000 yen, and we expect the fares to be a few thousand yen higher than this.
In the roundtable discussion that followed, Kiichi Tanimura, President of Thermal Studio, who was in charge of design, and Daisuke Kakiuchi, President and Representative Director of Kakiuchi, who was in charge of production, joined the discussion and talked about the development and production process and difficulties they encountered.
Thermal Studio is a local company that also manufactures drones and other products, and Kakiuchi is a major local manufacturing company. Since all three companies involved are local Kochi companies working together on this project, the words “Made in Kochi” were emphasized.
© Source travel watch
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