Cooperative Vehicle-Highway Systems Under Test in Japan
IVsource.net
2 December 2002

At the ITS World Congress in Chicago in October, Mr. Shigenobu Kawasaki of the Japanese Ministry of Land, Transport, and Infrastructure provided an overview of their very extensive research program in advanced road infrastructure equipment and cooperative vehicle-highway systems – easily the most advanced program of its type worldwide.  IVsource provides the details.

At the ITS World Congress in Chicago in October, Mr. Shigenobu Kawasaki of the Japanese Ministry of Land, Transport, and Infrastructure provided an overview of their very extensive research program in advanced road infrastructure equipment and cooperative vehicle-highway systems – easily the most advanced program of its type worldwide.  Mr. Kawasaki is Director of the ITS R&D Division within the National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management (NILIM) within MLIT.

Support for Safe Driving

Mr. Kawasaki noted the functional division between roads and vehicles/drivers that drives their program: processors onboard the vehicle take charge of interpreting road portions that can be perceived by drivers and/or vehicle sensors, while the road itself takes charge of the range that is difficult or impossible to perceive by drivers or vehicles.

A typical example of this division is a sharp curve with poor upstream visibility.  In the systems under evaluation in Japan, a roadside sensor on the blind portion of the curve feeds information to an electronic sign, visible to drivers just ahead of the curve.  Alternatively, warning information may be transmitted directly to drivers inside their vehicles.  In all cases, however, the final responsibility for safe driving stays with the driver, who makes judgments regarding vehicle operation (reducing speed, etc.) based on the information provided.

NILIM has defined “Proving Tests” to assess the performance of these system concepts.  Proving test activity has been approached from three perspectives:

• Cooperative vehicle-highway systems -- testing safety and reliability, as well as evaluating driver acceptance

• Infrastructure-based systems – including comparisons with cooperative vehicle-highway systems

• Testing for service effectiveness in harsh winter conditions – using this sensing technology for road management

Proving tests in Japan are conducted in driver simulators, test courses, and on actual roads.  The main test objectives are:

• Verification of service effectiveness

• Verification of driver acceptance

• Verification of the validity of the design values for infrastructure systems

• Verification of system functions and performance (focused on achievement of safety targets)

• Consideration and evaluation for use in road management

Seven Tests Underway on Japanese Roads

Seven proving tests on actual roads are underway, focusing on forward obstacle collision countermeasures, support for prevention of road departure on curves, and detection of road surface conditions.  Locations with a high risk of crashes -- where the test results will be measurable -- have been selected.  Six of the seven tests involve cooperative vehicle-highway services, while the seventh is an infrastructure-based service.

NILIM Proving Test Locations

[Top]