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Fujio Cho
President
Advanced Cruise-Assist Highway
System Research Association |
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As we approach the advanced information society of the 21st Century, increasingly active efforts to develop Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) are being made throughout the world.
Japan is likewise engaging actively in R&D, under the initiative of relevant ministries and government agencies, to realize the evolving vision of ITS as an integrated system that will combine the person, the vehicle, and the road by means of leading-edge information technology (IT). The Advanced Cruise-Assist Highway System Research Association (AHSRA) has been conducting this R&D program in ITS under the auspices of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The main thrust of our program is to improve the safety, efficiency, comfort, and convenience of road transportation by incorporating IT in the road infrastructure that is envisioned for the Advanced Cruise-Assist Highway Systems (AHS).
Research during the three years from 1996 to 1998 was focused mainly on defining a basic conceptual structure for our R&D and formulating the requirements involved. Actual systems intended to support safe driving were developed and prototypes were built on the basis of those research findings. During the year 2000, joint tests of road-vehicle cooperative systems were carried out on the test course of the National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. In the year 2002, we selected seven locations in Japan that would highlight the effects of systems subjected to new testing and verification. Field Operation Tests of AHS were conducted there over the two years 2002 and 2003. Verification and evaluation were carried out of driver usability in the face of traffic on actual roads, of system safety and reliability, and so on.
This has been a major national project promoted jointly by industry, academia, and government within the cooperative framework of AHSRA, bringing together the most advanced technologies from eighteen Japanese companies. We also intend this project as a contribution to the resolution of road traffic problems worldwide. Consequently, we are pursuing AHS development from a global perspective and with an emphasis on international collaboration.
AHSRA is committed to conducting a concerted program of R&D for the early realization of AHS. We look forward, therefore, to the support and cooperation of the public and all other parties involved in the ITS effort. |
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