An Automated Vehicle System using machine vision was undertaken in the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry beginning in the 70's. Shown here is the automated car named equipped with two TV cameras on the fenders.
It ran on its own at 30 km/h while avoiding obstacles and guardrails in 1977.

Also, development of a vehicle-to-vehicle communication system and a laser radar system for obstacle warning was conducted in the 80's.

Following the research conducted in the 70's and 80's, a concrete project towards practical use began in the 90's. The Super Smart Vehicle System (SSVS) project is a research activity conducted since 1990, as entrusted by JSK, under support from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.

In 1991, the Ministry of Transportation established a study group composed of industry experts to promote a five-year plan for the development of an Advanced Safety Vehicle. The ASV project's goal is to develop a passenger car that is safer and easier to use than existing models by the beginning of the 21st century. The study group classified targets of ASV into the following four categories-safety readiness, collision avoidance, crash damage reduction, and secondary damage reduction.

In March 1996, the study group held a symposium to present the results of the five-year plan and to demonstrate a running prototype ASV. Subsequently, the second phase of the ASV project began in April 1996 as a five-year plan to study the feasibility of the results of the first phase. The plan of the second phase focused on human factors, cooperation with the infrastructure, and feasibility of use in passenger cars, trucks, and buses.

The ASV project concerned technology solely for vehicles in the first phase. From the second phase,automated driving was incorporated,on condition of infrastructural cooperation, achieving more aspects in common with the AHS project promoted by the Ministry of Construction. It is expected that both projects will be promoted concurrently through adjustments in technological developments and schedule in the future.

AHS in Japan began its research at the Public Works Research Institute (PWRI) of the Ministry of Construction in 1989. However, it was not called AHS at that time. It was a project included in the development plan for Advanced Road Transportation Systems (ARTS) by the Ministry of Construction, and was called the Advanced Highway Safety System (AHSS). Its focus was on traffic accident prevention in conjunction with the infrastructure, and automated driving was not seriously considered at first.

In 1991, the joint research of the PWRI and Highway Industry Development Organization began. And in 1994, 24 private companies in the fields of automobile, electric engineering and telecommunications joined the research. This research aimed at technological development, such as road-ahead danger warning, position indication of surrounding vehicles, and rear-end collision prevention, and it continued until 1996.

Meanwhile, these research projects were authorized as the nation's official research and development projects. In August, 1992, a Five-Year Road Improvement Program by the Ministry of Construction defined AHSS's three-phased evolution; "warning system," "prevention system" and "automated driving system." In August, 1995, the "Basic Guidelines for ITS," that were decided upon by five ITS related ministries, defined the position of the AHS project. Then, in July, 1996, the five ministries compiled the "Comprehensive Plan for ITS," that defined the three phased evolution of AHS, which are "danger warning," "assistance for driving" and "automated highway systems." The first two phases are to be put into practical use around 2000, and "automated highway systems" are to be implemented by the beginning of the 21st century. These documents can be read on-line from the ITS homepage by the Ministry of Construction.

The results of research were made public. In November, 1995, when ITS World Congress Yokohama was held, an AHS operational demonstration test was conducted on the test course of the PWRI of the Ministry of Construction. The 3 km extended test course was used for inspection of the vehicle control method in both the lateral and longitudinal directions, and parties concerned from seven different countries took a test drive. Also, in September, 1996, using a section under construction on the expressway between Tokyo and Nagano, operational demonstration tests for "danger warning," "assistance for driving" and "automated highway systems" were conducted. On the 5.4 km test section of the expressway, we had demonstrations such as the "platooning" operation, involving 11 automobiles by four different manufacturers. A total of 1,300 observers attended from 14 countries.

In September, 1996, we established the Advanced Cruise-Assist Highway System Research Association (AHSRA) for effective research and development of road infrastructure regarding AHS. Twenty one companies from the fields of automobile, electricity and telecommunications participate in the association, and we have received applications for associate members from 120 organizations or persons from 10 countries so far. The association aims to conduct a three-phased research and development program, including "danger warning," "assistance for driving" and "automated highway systems," by promoting road-vehicle cooperation. We call them AHS-i, AHS-c, and AHS-a.

As I have written earlier, according to the "Comprehensive Plan for ITS," our goal is the deployment of AHS-i and AHS-c by about the year 2000, with AHS-a deployment by the beginning of the next century.

Actually, we believe the year 2000 to be a turning point. It will be the final year for the second phase of ASV and for the time being, AHSRA's target year is also set at 2000. An early version of an adaptive cruise control vehicle, which detects the vehicle's headway distance, operates throttle control and transmission control, was launched in Japan in May, 1995. We expect a guideline for such systems to emerge by the year 2000.

The Ministry of Construction created the new Five-Year Road Improvement Program to begin in 1998. This program will end in March 2003 and the ministry is considering an ITS infrastructure improvement project aimed at this target date.

The details of these programs have yet to be determined, but we hope to adjust our schedules with other countries and cooperate in terms of technology development and the creation of standards. Allow me to stress this point once more. Because AHS is directly related to safety, standardization of user operations is particularly important. International cooperation in AHS development is crucial in order to create a common methods of operations and for efficient technological development. Japan intends to cooperate with other countries in developing technologies for AHS and in creating standards.