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Nakano Lab
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The lab studies mobility for people through mechanics and control.
AboutAbout the lab
Safe, comfortable mobility for everyone
Nakano Lab studies human-centered mobility (movement by vehicles), drawing on knowledge of dynamics, measurement, and control.
Focusing on cars and railways, the lab studies condition monitoring, ergonomics, HMIs that connect people and machines, autonomous driving, and cooperative systems.
The lab also addresses non-technical issues known as ELSI, aiming to make these technologies usable in society.
The lab also conducts experiments using a driving simulator.
Key terms
- HMI
- Short for human-machine interface. A mechanism, such as displays, sounds, and controls, through which people and machines exchange information.
- Driving simulator
- A device that recreates driving a car with a screen and driver's-seat equipment, allowing driving experiments without driving on real roads.
- ELSI
- Short for ethical, legal, and social issues. Non-technical issues that arise when a new technology is introduced into society.
NewsLab news
Exhibited at the Komaba Research Campus Open House, with driving simulator test rides
Exhibited at the Kashiwa Campus Open House, with driving simulator test rides
Professor Nakano received the Division Achievement Award from the Dynamics, Measurement and Control Division of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers
Exhibited at the Komaba Research Campus Open House, with driving simulator test rides
Exhibited at the Komaba Research Campus Open House
ResearchResearch themes
Building on mechanical dynamics, vibration engineering, and control engineering, the lab studies condition monitoring of mobility, ergonomics, human-machine interfaces, autonomous driving, and cooperative systems. It also addresses non-technical issues known as ELSI, aiming for the societal implementation of these technologies.
*Illustrative imageHumans and machines driving together
The lab studies shared control, in which a machine and a human perform control together, as in driver assistance for cars, using haptic guidance steering as an example.
*Illustrative imageUsing road information for driving assistance
Infrastructure-cooperative systems send information from traffic signals and roadside sensors to vehicles. To also apply these systems to driver assistance, the lab investigates effective HMIs through driving simulator experiments.
*Illustrative imageSupporting the timing of taking back control
In Level 2 autonomous driving, the lab proposes an HMI that helps drivers return to driving safely and quickly. It supports the timing of the handover by combining the urgency of the situation with the driver's gaze movements.
*Illustrative imageWillingness to accept autonomous driving
A person's willingness to accept a technology changes even while they are using it. Through driving simulator experiments, the lab defines this "situational acceptance" and studies how to estimate it from physiological features and gaze data.
MembersFaculty
Nakano Lab consists of faculty members, technical specialists, academic specialists and technical assistants, secretaries, visiting researchers, senior collaborators, collaborating researchers, doctoral and master's students, research students, and research interns.As of 2026
- ProfessorKimihiko NakanoPublications ↗
- Assistant ProfessorWei WangPublications ↗
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “SIMUVEG” Ipareja / Public domain (cropped)
- Humans and machines driving together: “Driver controls truck while navigating through fields in rural area during daylight hours and showcasing their skills” Shixart1985 / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Using road information for driving assistance: “Japanese signal aokibashi” わいは
ま / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped) - Supporting the timing of taking back control: “Eye tracker” Rai S G Bari / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Willingness to accept autonomous driving: “Ds-low-100” FWeidner / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Yamakawa Lab): “Prototype robot parallèle PAR4” FrancoisPierrot34 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Arai Lab): “Microfluidic chip for point-of-care medical devices” FMNLab / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Ayusawa Lab (Designated Visiting)): “Biomechanics human model in MOCAP system” El gato Tito / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Intelligent Mobility Lab): “Zoox Toyota Highlander Test Vehicle - Sensor Closeup - San Francisco, May 2025 07” 9yz / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
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