Mazda is set to initiate trials of its new ASV-4 safety vehicle (pictured here) on the roads around Hiroshima, Japan. But it's not merely the car that will be tested on the roads — the roads are being tested on the car, too. The ASV-4 (a modified MPV minivan) is designed to participate in the validation of an elaborate, government-sponsored smart roadway network called the Intelligent Transport System (ITS).
Spurred by a consortium of local government officials as well as members of academia and industry (including Mitsubishi Motors and Kawasaki Heavy Industries), ITS employs a network of cameras and sensors intended to mitigate accidents, traffic congestion, and environmental damage by keeping drivers aware of hazards they can't see &mdash over arched bridges and hilltops, around blind corners, and in places where trams and cars share the road.
Photo courtesy of Mazda.
According to Mazda, the system consists of a variety of sensor types, each with a different goal, including:
- A system to identify the extent of road congestion.
- A warning system to prevent speeding.
- A system to prevent rear-end collisions at traffic signals.
- A head-on collision prevention support system.
- A right-turn collision prevention support system (identifies approaching trams, oncoming traffic, and pedestrians crossing the street).
- An in-transit information system. Moreover, onboard sensors monitor such factors as vehicle condition, road speed, and driver response, and the system shares this info with other connected vehicles. If ITS identifies what it considers a potentially dangerous situation, the system will determine whether and how to alert nearby drivers. In short, it lets everybody and their cars know what a bad driver you are, in real time, and gives them a chance to get out of the way.
What really sets the Intelligent Transport System apart is that unlike such emergent technologies as GM's Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) system, by which cars share information with other cars using only data gathered by on-board sensors, ITS is a true road-to-vehicle network — roadways conversing with cars and cars sharing the information (and more) with other cars. Upon the successful completion of this phase of the ITS trial (which runs through 2010), Mazda and the other consortium members hope to initiate installation of ITS sensors across Japan.
