No. 1002
Improvement of efficiency and safety of automotive transportation using information and control technologies
Investigating R&D Committee on improvement of efficiency and safety of automotive transportation using information and control technologies
Automobile is one of the most convenient means of transportation, symbolizing freedom of the individual and social civilization, though its negative aspects: congestions, traffic accidents and energy consumption are currently crucial social problems that cannot be left as they are. Conventional approaches focused on improvement of the automotive performance (for example, power train performance, maneuvering performance, etc.) may not yield a complete solution for the problems. Therefore a new approach to solve the problems must be discussed from many points of views with high priority currently. On the other hand, information technology is interpenetrating the social systems suddenly and widely, and so are automotive traffic systems. Because communication systems between an automobile and the other automobiles, between automobiles and infrastructures and some sensor systems installed in automobiles are being available, the information outside of the automobile that are received from these devises will be able to be used for automotive driving. Under this circumstance, we now have an opportunity to build up systems that can optimize the automotive traffic flow macroscopically that can be good remedies for the problems we have. The committee investigated possibilities and issues to be concerned that will arise when novel automotive transportation systems that are controlled using the information are realized. This report summarizes the fruits of the activity: the motivation of the investigation, new topic of automotive traffic flow theory, possibilities of automotive control, new ideas to use communication technology for automotive traffic and sate of the art of air traffic systems that are advanced in usage of the information improving the safety and efficiency of the system. In the last chapter of the report, some issues that should be discussed before the novel automotive transportation systems are introduced are described.
©2005. The Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan