One of Japan’s central goals for ITS has been to provide real-time information on traffic conditions on most expressway and arterial roads in Japan. Real-time traf- fic information can be collected through two primary types of mechanisms: 1) fixed devices or sensors em- bedded in or beside the roadway, or 2) mobile probes, whether vehicles such as taxis, or mobile devices such as cellular phones which travel in the flow of traffic and have a communications means to report on traffic flow. In collecting and disseminating real-time traffic information, Japan started with a fixed system with its Vehicle Information and Communications System (VICS) launched in 1996. Starting in 2003, Japan be- gan to make extensive use of probes to capture real- time traffic information.
Japan’s VICS, the world’s first vehicle information communications system, which began service in April 1996 and has been available nationwide since 2003, reduces travel time for long trips by an average of 20 percent.
The story of Japan’s ITS world leadership dates back to 1990, when Japan’s then-Ministry of Construction (the current Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT)), Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIAC), and National Police Agency (NPA), convened to conceive Japan’s VICS (Figure 3), an up-to-the-minute, in-vehicle digital data communication system providing traffic information to drivers through their on-board vehicle navigation system.83 The world’s first vehicle information com- munications system began service in Japan in April 1996, and since 2003 the service has been available nationwide.84
Japan’s VICS takes information collected by Japan’s Road Traffic Information Center on roadway condi- tions, accidents, congestion, and road closures or re- pairs; processes, edits, and digitizes this information; and then sends it to vehicle navigation systems via three different transmission mechanisms, displaying the data on the driver’s car navigation unit in one of three ways: text, simple graphics, or map. Japanese drivers’ VICS- enabled on-board car navigation systems dynamically process the VICS data and suggest to the driver op-
timal route guidance to avoid accidents, congestion, weather, and/or roadway hazards. VICS thus provides drivers with in-vehicle, real-time traffic information and can assist the driver in selecting (and plotting) an optimal route to get to his or her destination.
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Initially, VICS collected traffic data through sensors embedded in or beside the roadway, traffic cameras, or traffic reports (for example, from police or motorists). But since 2003, traffic and congestion information in Japan has been generated increasingly through the use of probe vehicles, specifically by making VICS-enabled vehicles the probe vehicles themselves. Japan views probe vehicles as “a system for monitoring and col- lecting data on the precise traffic flow, traffic behavior, positions, vehicle behavior, and weather and natural states by using vehicles as moving traffic-monitoring devices.”
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VICS information is transmitted to motorists in one of three ways: 1) when a vehicle passes under radio wave beacons, found mainly on Japan’s expressways, which provide traffic information for about 200 km in front of the vehicle’s position; 2) via infrared beacons, found more often on arterial roadways, which provide VICS information for about 30 km ahead of the vehicle’s po- sition; and 3) via FM multiplex broadcasting, which provides wide-area VICS information to prefectural areas. The VICS system uses 5.8GHz DSRC technol- ogy.
In Japan, “traffic data is regarded as a key information resource. The role of ministries and relevant organiza- tions set up to manage and supply such information is of key importance.”88 The VICS Center, which oper- ates the VICS service, is a public-private partnership, chartered specifically as a non-profit organization sup- ported by the National Police Agency, MIAC, and MLIT. However, the VICS Center operates with no governmental funding, and is supported by 90 compa- nies involved in car and vehicle electronic equipment manufacture for ITS.89 Real-time traffic information generated by VICS is both made available to the public and made available to be resold by third-party service providers.
Eighty-one percent of VICS customers rate the ser- vice as either “essential” or “convenient, if available.” Research tests show the VICS service can reduce trav-
