December 2000
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December 2000 |
Japan's
Demo 2000 Wows Attendees
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In
a dazzling display starring
some of the smartest roads and vehicles on the planet, the Japanese government
and vehicle industry staged another in a series of increasingly sophisticated vehicle
demonstrations which have been rolling out steadily from various parts of the
globe since the mid-nineties. Drawing
an estimated 2000 people, Demo 2000 culminated nearly three months of
extensive "proving tests" called Smart Cruise 21. The Demo was held November 28 through December 1 in Tsukuba City, Japan's center for science and technological development. Test rides and exhibits were offered at both the Japan Automotive Research Institute (JARI) and the Public Works Research Institute (PWRI).
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"Assistance for Safe Driving" -- under which the automated vehicle activities highlighted at the demo fall -- is one of nine ITS focus areas in the overall Japanese program. Since 1991, the Japanese Ministry of Transport has sponsored the Advanced Safety Vehicle (ASV) program; the Ministry of Construction established the Advanced Cruise-Assist Highway System Research Association (AHSRA) in 1996. Both programs enjoy participation from all of the domestic vehicle makers and a significant group of electronics and related companies. "Japan is the first country which has reached a position to realize
these paradigm-shifting systems .. creating new relationships between people,
roads, and vehicles in the IT age," according to a joint statement from Morita
Hajime, Minister of Transport, and Oogi Chikage, Minister of
Construction. |
Dignitaries from around the world participated in the Demo 2000 ribbon cutting on November 28. | ||
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Great Turn Out Seen at Demo By far the largest and most diverse
convergence to date of vehicle-makers, vehicle types, and smart road
technologies,
Demo 2000 featured over twenty different test scenarios on many more vehicles.
Honda, Nissan, Toyota, and other Japanese manufacturers were
there, as well as DaimlerChrysler and Hyundai as invited partners
(see sidebar for the complete list). Smart
truck and bus systems were offered by Hino Motors, Nissan Diesel,
and others. And, as an impressive
first-ever in this arena, an array of safety systems for motorcyclists were
shown by Kawasaki, Yamaha, and others.
DaimlerChrysler's director for advanced vehicle research Hans-Georg
Metzler cited DC's corporate vision for "accident-free driving" as
a key reason for their participation. Both
Autonomous
and Cooperative Systems Illustrating a key aspect of Japan's approach to road safety, both "autonomous" and "cooperative" systems were displayed. Autonomous systems resulting from the ASV program were demonstrated at JARI, with vehicles executing functions such as forward collision avoidance, stop-&-go adaptive cruise control, and lane departure avoidance. AHSRA's program approach focuses on vehicle-highway cooperative systems to maximize safety: hazards that can't be sensed effectively from the vehicle are detected by roadside equipment, which relays key information to vehicles, which then perform the necessary maneuvers to keep the ride safe. One demonstrated scenario offered the dramatic example of a disabled vehicle stopped
around a blind curve. With information from roadside monitors, demo vehicles
received the information and either warned the driver, or reduced speed
automatically, from full highway speed, to avoid an otherwise likely crash. The full array of advanced systems (see below) was enough to make a safety engineer's head spin -- warning and control systems were focused on pedestrian avoidance, staying safely on the road, and avoiding crashes in the forward direction or when changing lanes. The roads at the test track talked to the vehicles, and the vehicles talked to each other (using a 5.8 GHz dedicated short range communications, or DSRC, link). For evaluation purposes, four different types of road condition
monitoring were operating (vision, radiometric, laser radar, and buried fiber
optic cable). In one ride, when a wet road was detected, information was sent
to a Nissan with Adaptive Cruise Control operating, and the ACC system
automatically slowed the vehicle to a safer speed until the roadway reported dry
conditions. And, at a side
demo sponsored by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI),
longer-range
research in cooperative driving was shown. The MITI demo featured "flexible platoons" of
five cars, using vehicle-vehicle communications and high-accuracy GPS. Extensive
Test Track Facilities The extensive test track facilities
at PWRI include a rain/fog tunnel and situations emulating intersections and
highways. Three rows of magnetic
markers were installed in the lanes for evaluation purposes, although many of
the systems relied only on painted lane markings for lane detection.
The magnetic markers allowed vehicles from California PATH, Mitsubishi,
and others to accurately track lanes through dense fog, with radar systems
detecting otherwise unseen obstacles, warning the driver and slowing the
vehicle. In-depth data collection for
evaluation of Smart Cruise systems was conducted in the months leading up to the
Demo. Using well-defined evaluation
methodologies, 2200 test runs were conducted with 600 subjects. 500 of these subjects were from the public and surveys
indicate that 95% had a
favorable response to the systems. While
months of data analysis will now commence, early data shows significantly less
hard braking, for instance, given the greater situational awareness provided by
the driver assist systems. |
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Demo
2000: A Successful Cap to Ten
Years of Work Far beyond the domain of
"research toys," the capabilities demonstrated were the result of
almost ten years of research. The vehicles performing on the road exhibited "showroom
quality." Phase One of the the
ASV program program ran from 1991-95, in which basic concepts were defined and
research conducted with The AHSRA and ASV programs are
coming together for future phases, reflecting the merger of the Ministries of
Construction and Transport into a new Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and
Transportation. To move these
systems quickly into global markets, they are ramping up efforts to promote
international standardization for key systems. Guiding
Principle: Drivers in Charge Several key principles underlie the
Japanese approach to vehicle safety systems.
Technology is providing driver assistance in the forms of perception
assistance, decision assistance, and control
assistance. The Japanese seek
to define systems that drivers can trust without creating an over-reliance --
the key paradigm is that the drivers have "ultimate responsibility"
for safe operation of the vehicle. Program
results indicate that these systems can reduce driver workload to allow them to
pay more attention to the surrounding traffic in complex situations.
The Japanese are also convinced that control assist systems will be key
to compensating for the slower reaction times of older drivers, who are 2.5
times more likely to be involved in crashes, according to national safety data. The potentially enormous benefits
for these technologies are sure to drive continued funding for these and similar
programs. Analyses conducted by the Japanese
government estimate that, with all vehicles equipped with the aforementioned
driver assistance systems, light vehicle crash
fatalities could be reduced by 41%, heavy vehicle crash fatalities by 31%, and
motorcycle fatalities by 42%. Advanced Driving Functions Demonstrated at Demo 2000
(*both autonomous and infrastructure-supported systems demonstrated) Toyota Unveils New Mode of Bus Transit One of the many stars of the show was Toyota's Intelligent Multimode Transit System, or IMTS, which utilizes millimeter-wave radar technology, vehicle-vehicle communications, and magnetic lateral control to offer fully automated bus platoons. Three buses at the demo followed one another at 10 m (32 ft) spacings at a speed of 60 km/hr (36 mph), offering a very smooth passenger experience. In response to a vehicle hidden around a blind curve, emergency braking in platoon mode came off flawlessly. Proposed as an alternative to light rail systems, IMTS offers the added capability of individual buses "splitting off" the platoon to provide service to neighborhoods along a backbone transit route. Toyota says that the IMTS will enter service next summer in Japan. Coming
When to a Showroom Near You? When will these systems hit the market? Adaptive Cruise Control has
been on the market in Japan since 1996, and Mitsubishi is now offering a lane
departure warning system which offers haptic warning in the steering wheel and a
polite corrective steering torque if needed.
Systems likely to enter the market in the next three years include stop
& go ACC, adaptive lighting control,
front and side obstacle warning, and more advanced road departure avoidance
systems. AHSRA has a well defined
plan for deployment of roadway infrastructure in their Smartway program,
beginning with full deployment on the Second Tomei Expressway by 2003 and
extending nationwide by 2015. Attendees at the Demo included a large contingent from the United States Department of Transportation and the United Kingdom Highways Agency, in part because both entities have joint research agreements with the Japanese government. In a message delivered by US Federal Highway Administration Research Director Dennis Judycki at the opening ceremony, USDOT Secretary Rodney Slater noted the mutual goals of the US Intelligent Vehicle Initiative program and Smart Cruise, and said that "international collaboration is key to achieving the USDOT vision."
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ASV cars lined up at the opening event. |
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Along these lines, a new US-Japan research program was announced by
Judycki, which will focus on Intersection Collision Avoidance.
A delegation from the European Commission was also in attendance; EC
representative Aki Lumiaho affirmed the Organizers said Demo 2000 fulfilled their goals of showcasing the Japanese program to the public (all five Tokyo television stations covered the opening, and the ribbon-cutting was mobbed by about 50 photographers), and to the international community as well, to strengthen public acceptance and increase international awareness. The Smart Cruise systems offered in Demo 2000 offered a "real-world" experience of the potential of truly intelligent vehicle-highway systems to maximize safety on our roads. Richard
Bishop is an independent consultant focusing on intelligent road-vehicle systems;
he publishes news and information in this field at IVsource.net.
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Photo Gallery
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Buses lined up at the Demo 2000 opening ceremony |
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Copyright 2000: IVsource.net and Richard Bishop Consulting (RBC). All Rights Reserved. |
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December 2000 |
experiments on light vehicles.
goals of the Japanese program as being
"in line" with European aims.