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Kenji Muraoka Executive Director, Advanced Cruise-Assist Highway System Research Association |
I would like to thank you all for attending the symposium this year.
This is traditionally the time when I report results from the past year. 2003 marked our seventh anniversary and the culmination of what we might call our first phase of operations, which I summarized last year.
One area of progress was in a core ITS technology, specifically, real-time detection of various road hazards. Proving tests were conducted last year at regional development bureaus of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT), and applying the results has been a focus of our research this year. We expect that it will contribute to more sophisticated road management.
Additionally, we expanded our proving tests to the Sangubashi section of the Metropolitan Expressway. A report of this will be given in this symposium.
This research reflects a keen interest in how we can offer AHS services—services to assist drivers by providing safety information—at the present time using emerging technologies.
Meanwhile, car navigation systems, VICS, ETC, and other elements of ITS are steadily becoming more widespread. What new AHS services can we develop and phase in to popularize these technologies? How can we coordinate them? These are some tasks we face. We hope this symposium will provide a forum for wide-ranging discussion and a chance to hear your proposals regarding near-term deployment of these AHS services and our second phase of research.
Our keynote address, on “The Future of ITS,” will be given by Hironao Kawashima, who is a professor of the Faculty of Science and Technology at Keio University.
In Session 2, we will present approaches to implementing AHS from our viewpoint at the AHS Research Association.
Next, Seiji Moriyama of MLIT will offer a special presentation on “ITS Enter the Second Stage.” We are looking forward to his interim report from MLIT's Smartway Project Advisory Committee.
We will conclude with a panel discussion on “Smartways and AHS” led by Associate Professor Takaaki Hasegawa of Saitama University's Department of Electrical and Electronic Systems Engineering. Your opinions or questions would be appreciated during this session, which we view as an opportunity to engage in discussion on a closer level.
Speaking on behalf of research association members, I can
state that we enjoy being in the unique position of conducting joint R&D
with automobile manufacturers and infrastructure developers under the guidance
of this administration. It
is a field that brings together a variety of new technology, and we hope our
research will make a significant contribution to society. Thank you very much
for your ongoing support and guidance.
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