Mazda Motor Corp. said it has started a driving test of a hydrogen vehicle on public roads in Norway in cooperation with the government of the Scandinavian country.

Norway is promoting the Hydrogen Road of Norway, or HyNor, project aimed at establishing an eco-friendly transport system through the use of hydrogen as energy.

Through the test of the RX-8 Hydrogen Re sports car, the Japanese automaker aims to collect detained data on its driving performance. The driving test will be carried out for six days.

Mazda plans to lease about 30 units of the vehicle in Norway under the HyNor initiative from fiscal 2009.