Historical Analysis of the ITS Progress of Japan

Kohei Koide1 & Takeshi Oishi1 & Katsushi Ikeuchi1

Received: 3 November 2014 /Revised: 7 June 2015 /Accepted: 31 July 2015# Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Abstract Although road traffic has supported high eco-nomic growth after the war, it has also caused serioussocial problems about traffic accidents, traffic conges-tion, and environmental pollution. Information and com-munication technology (ICT), such as computers, mobilecommunications, and digital information processing, hasmade rapid progress, in the second half of the 20thcentury. Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), which weredeveloped using ICT, has contributed to improvement ofroad traffic problems, in recent years. Many ITS relatedpeople in the government, universities, and private com-panies and so on, have built the history of the ITSprogress, making efforts and ingenuity to improve roadtraffic problems by ITS. In this paper we contributeimprovement of road traffic problems, by clarifying theinfluential factors and the strong points of ITS of Japanthrough analyzing the history of the ITS progress ofJapan.

Keywords History of ITS progress . Influential factors andstrong points of ITS . Improvement of road traffic problems

1 Introduction

ITS of Japan has accomplished remarkable progress by the pro-motion organization of government initiative, industrial, and ac-ademic sectors cooperation. The BMission Critical System^ isdefined in this paper as a representative ITS of Japan whichconsists of several practical use systems. One is the route guid-ance system called the Car Navigation System and Vehicle In-formation and Communication System (VICS). Another is thefee collection system of the highway called Electronic Toll Col-lection system (ETC.). Others are Universal TrafficManagementSystem (UTMS), and the BCooperative Driving Safety SupportSystem^ consisting of Advanced Safety Vehicle (ASV), DrivingSafety Support Systems (DSSS), and BITS spot^. The BMissionCritical System^ of ITS of Japan has spread across the country.ITS of Japan is evaluated topmost in the world, for kind and theirtechnological high level of systems.

Now in Japan, advanced development projects of ITS arebeing promoted. One is the project on the BCooperative Driv-ing Safety Support System^ which aims at automatic vehicleoperation. Another is the study project about the new utiliza-tion system of traffic data called BProbe Information^, whichaims at decreases in traffic accidents and traffic congestion.These projects are being promoted targeting at the TokyoOlympic Games in 2020.

In this paper, we would like to clarify the influential exam-ples, influential factors, and the strong points, of ITS of Japanwhich significantly contributed to the ITS progress of Japan,by analyzing the history of the ITS progress of Japan, towardsimprovement of road traffic problems. In Section 2, we ex-plain the necessity of reduction of the social losses attributedto road traffic. In Section 3, the outlines of the history of theITS progress of Japan are explained. In Section 4, influential

* Kohei Koidek-koide@cvl.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Takeshi Oishioish@iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Katsushi Ikeuchiki@iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp

1 ITS Center, Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo,4-6-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8505, Japan

Int. J. ITS Res.DOI 10.1007/s13177-015-0117-4

examples of ITS of Japan are selected, based on the history ofthe ITS progress of Section 3. In Section 5, we identify theinfluential factors and the strong points of ITS by analyzingthe influential examples. Finally, in Section 6, we propose theway of thinking of future ITS promotion.

2 Social Losses Attributed to Road Traffic,and Improvement Potentialities by ITS

The National Police Agency (NPA) announced that the numberof traffic accidents in 2013 was 629,021 and the death toll was4,373, and the number injured was 781,494 [1]. Even thoughthe numerical values in recent years have been trending down-ward, it is still a big social problem. According to an investiga-tion by the Cabinet Office, the economic loss attributed to alltraffic accidents is estimated to be 6,750 billion yen per year, asof 2004 [2]. According to investigation of theMinistry of Land,Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), wasted time at-tributed to traffic congestion in Japan was 3,810 million manhours / year, in 2002. Also, in 2006, it was 3,310 million manhours / year. If converted into monetary value, the estimatedloss was about 10~12 trillion yen per year [3]. CO2 emissionsfrom the transportation section have been decreasing from thepeak of 267 million tons in 2001, to 227 million tons in 2012[4]. Though this numerical value has attained theBGovernmental Goal Achievement Plan^, since the CO2 prob-lem also includes an economic side like the emission trading,thus continuous CO2 reduction is being desired.

Accurate numerical values about traffic congestion and en-vironmental pollution, and the improvement potentialities ofthem by ITS are difficult to estimate. However, the improve-ment potentialities were estimated by experiments and computersimulations by the government so far. For example, about theimprovement potentialities by ASV, MLIT announced the im-provement potentialities using the traffic accident data for theyear 2009. According to the results, approximately 1,000 fatalaccidents and 180,000 injury accidents could be avoided byinstallations of ASV [5]. These numbers are equivalent to nearly20 % of the actual death toll and injuries in 2009.

Concerning social loss caused by traffic congestion, theVICS center announced in 2006 that the economic effect ofthe improvement of congestion by VICS was estimated by anexperiments and simulations [6]. These numbers are equiva-lent to nearly 7 % of the actual wasteful time, and nearly 1 %of the CO2 emissions in 2006.

From the experimental results and computer simulationresults mentioned above, it is shown that ITS has improve-ment potentialities of social losses attributed to road traffic.However, at the moment, the improvement effect of ITS isvery small compared with actual social losses attributed toroad traffic. Therefore we think it’s necessary to make aneffort to expand the effect of ITS.

3 The History of the ITS Progress

3.1 Early Stage (1960s–1980s)

ITS began in the 1960’s. The US Electronic Route GuidanceSystem (ERGS), the European Autofahrer Leit und Informa-tions system (ALI), and the Comprehensive Automobile traf-fic Control System (CACS) of Japan, are said to be the initialITS systems. Each of these three systems had a route guidanceservice as the main function. In the 1970s, for the purpose ofrelief of traffic congestion etc., CACS project constructed theexperimental system which had digital communications func-tion between the ground side and vehicles, and provided theroute guidance information to vehicles. CACS became a fore-runner of ITS of Japan.

In the 1980s, ITS of Japan began the development of theBIntelligent Road Traffic System^ by ITS related ministriesand agencies of NPA, the Ministry of International Tradeand Industry (MITI), the Ministry of Transport (MOT), theMinistry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPT), and theMinistry of Construction (MOC). ITS related ministries andagencies, based on the trend of the US and European ITSdevelopment projects, started up the ITS experiment systemdevelopment projects individually by the promotion organiza-tion of governmental, industrial, and academic sectors coop-eration. These systems are listed as follows: Super Smart Ve-hicle System (SSVS) of MITI, Road/Automobile Communi-cation System (RACS), Advanced cruise-assist Highway Sys-tem (AHS), and Advanced Road Traffic Systems (ARTS) ofMOC, Advanced Mobile Traffic Information and Communi-cation Systems (AMTICS), and Universal Traffic Manage-ment Systems (UTMS) of NPA, and Advanced Safety Vehicle(ASV) of MOT. On the other hand, private companies alsopromoted the development and the spread, of the Car Naviga-tion System, in the 1980s and afterwards.

RACS and AMTICS were unified into VICS early in the1990s, and developed into the practical use system in 1996. Atthe ITS World Congress held in Yokohama in 1995, theseexperimental systems were generically named ITS.

3.2 First Stage (1990s–2004)

The government established the BAdvanced Information andTelecommunications Society Promotion Headquarters^ inAugust 1994, and decided to tackle the realization of an ad-vanced information and telecommunications society. ThisHeadquarters enacted the BBasic Policy towards an AdvancedInformation and Telecommunications Society^ in February1995, and decided that ITS was one of the fields which thegovernment should tackle [7].

In response to this, ITS related ministries and agencies, firstenacted the BInformation Implementation Indicator in a Road,Traffic, and the Vehicles Field^ in August 1995, and

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continuously enacted the BComprehensive Plan for ITS^ inJuly 1996 [8] [9]. In this study, we will call these plans theBITS National Strategy .̂ According to the BComprehensivePlan for ITS^, Nine development fields were decided as tar-gets of the plan, and the BFirst stage^ of ITS of Japan started.

In the 2000s and afterwards, VICS and ETC. which weredefined as development fields in the BComprehensive Planfor ITS^, became widespread steadily by the ITS measuresin the BRoad Traffic Policy .̂ Namely, national deploymentof service areas, and increase of the number of in-vehicleunits were realized.

The Be-Japan Strategy^ was announced by the IT StrategicHeadquarters in January, 2001. The Be-Japan Priority PolicyProgram^ which showed a concrete way of advancing the Be-Japan Strategy ,̂ was enacted in March, 2001. [10] [11].Thereby, the development and the spread of ITS was quicklypromoted as part of the BIT Strategy .̂ The state of the art ofITS of Japan was announced to the world at the BITS WorldCongress Nagoya, Aichi^ in 2004, and at the BEXPO 2005AICHI, JAPAN^ in 2005. In the meantime, the Car Naviga-tion System, VICS, and ETC. spread all over the country andUTMS also spread through the local governments in Japan.

3.3 Second Stage (2005–2012)

ITS of Japan went into the BSecond stage^ after the BITSWorldCongress Nagoya, Aichi^, held in 2004. In the BSecond stage^,the spread of individual systems was expanded. ITS becameindispensable to everyday life. The BGuideline of ITSPromotion^, which was announced in 2004 by the BJapaneseITS Promotion Meeting^, decided the target of ITS. Targetgoals included topics such as Bsafety and relief^, Benvironmentand efficiency ,̂ and Bcomfort and convenience^ [12].

In January, 2006, the BIT Strategic Headquarters^ enactedthe BNew IT Reform Strategy .̂ This strategy named a cleartarget of creating the safest road traffic society in the world[13]. The BCooperative Driving Safety Support System^ wasselected as the development theme in the BNew IT ReformStrategy^ for realizing the safest road traffic society in theworld. A plan for verification experiments on public roads inthe 2008 fiscal year, and national deployment of this systemfrom the 2010 fiscal year was determined expressly in theBNew ITReform Strategy .̂ The promotion project of this planwas the BITS-Safety 2010^. In this project, DSSS of NPA,Smartway of the MLIT Road Bureau, and ASVof the MLITRoad Transport Bureau, were developed strongly by a jointgovernment-private sector organization. Smartway wasevolved into BITS spot^. After this project, the practical im-plementation of the BCooperative Driving Safety SupportSystem^ was progressed rapidly.

In parallel to BNew IT Reform Strategy ,̂ the BGrant accel-eration project^ of the Cabinet Office also started in 2008 [14].The BGrant Acceleration Project^ was one of the projects of

Council for Science and Technology Policy, and the project ofBrealization of safe and efficient road traffic systems usinginformation and communication technology^ was selectedfor the ITS related project. In this project, Aomori, Kashiwa,Yokohama, and Toyoda were selected as model experimentalcities. In each city, developments and experiments of theBCooperative Driving Safety Support System^, the automaticdriving technologies, and the practical use of BProbeInformation^ were continued until the 2012 fiscal year.

Moreover, the BPromotion project of energy ITS^ of theMinistry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) had alsostarted in the same year [15]. The Truck platooning systemand the advanced route guidance system, etc., using automaticdriving technologies, have been developed for the purpose ofreduction of driving energies in the BPromotion project ofenergy ITS^. This project was advanced in cooperation withthe BGrant Acceleration Project^ until the 2012 fiscal year.

3.4 Progress Trend of the Latest ITS (2013-)

The latest remarkable IT strategies were the BNew Strategy inInformation and Communication Technology^ announced inMay 2010, and the BDeclaration to be the World’s Most Ad-vanced IT Nation^ announced in June, 2013 [16] [17]. Thesestrategies were announced from the BIT StrategicHeadquarters^.

Both strategies presented long-term targets to reduce fatal-ities of traffic accidents to 2,500 or fewer by the year 2018,and to sharply reduce traffic congestion by 2020. In responseto the BDeclaration to be the World’s Most Advanced ITNation^, BCooperative Driving Safety Support System^which put automatic driving into view, and the utilization oftraffic data called BProbe Information^, are being developed.

The ITS World Congress held in Tokyo, in October 2013was the 3rd one held in Japan. Discussions were active on thetheme of automatic driving technologies and BProbeInformation^, and the World Congress was success greatly.

Figure 1 shows the history of the ITS progress of Japanincluding R&D projects, strategies, events, etc.

4 Selection and Analysis of Influential Examplesof ITS of Japan

In this section, we select the influential examples of ITS ofJapan from the history of the ITS progress, mentioned in Sec-tion 3. We also identify the influential factors by analyzinginfluential examples. Furthermore, we make clear the strongpoints of ITS of Japan by accumulating influential factors.

In general, in the case of large-scale social system, like ITS,there were various problems which should be solved for theITS progress from the start-up of development projects untilthe spread of the practical use systems.

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Examples of the problems were as follows: Developmentof organization and element technologies, in the BEarlystage^. System development and practical implementation ofequipments and breakthrough of a period between develop-ment and the spread called BValley of Death^, in the BFirst andSecond stages^. In this section, we find influential examples,along the history of the ITS progress from the BEarly stage^ tothe BSecond stage^.

4.1 Selection of the Influential Examples

We propose that the influential example is the ITS measureswhich significantly contributed to the ITS progress of Japan.We will select various ITS measures which have been imple-mented to solve the problems for the ITS progress of Japan inthe fields of organizations, technologies, equipments, systems,the spread, and so on, as the influential examples, by theevaluation of plural viewpoints. Each ITS measure is evaluat-ed for its contribution to the ITS progress of Japan, from thefollowing viewpoints: Promotion of practical use, Commoninfrastructure and Technical tradition, System popularity, Sys-tem effect, Economic revitalization, and Industrial competi-tiveness. In this study the following ITS measures which re-ceived high evaluation by this evaluation systemwere selectedas influential examples.

Influential example #1The BIntelligent Road Traffic System R&D

Project^ which established the foundation of ITS ofJapan (Early stage)

Influential example #2The challenge to the Car Navigation System of private

companies which accelerated the progress of the car-electronic technologies of Japan by leaps and bounds(Early and First stages)Influential example #3

The BITS National Strategy^ and BIT Strategy^ whichstrongly contributed to the ITS progress of Japan by thecontinuous enactment and announcement of their strate-gies (First and Second stages)Influential example #4

The BRoad Traffic Policy^ which steadily implement-ed ITS measures that were enacted by the BITS NationalStrategy^ and the BIT Strategy^ (First and Second stages)

4.2 Identification of Influential Factors

In this part, we show the facts that these four influential ex-amples significantly contributed to the ITS progress of Japan,and identify the influential factors from these facts.

4.2.1 The BIntelligent Road Traffic System R&D Project^Which Established the Foundation of ITS of Japan

The BIntelligent Road Traffic System R&D Project^ devel-oped initial ITS experimental systems of Japan, such asCACS, RACS, AMTICS, ARTS, SSVS, AHS, ASV,UTMS. ITS related ministries and agencies developed indi-vidually those systems according to their purposes, from inthe 1970s to the 1990s (See Fig. 1). They felt the sense of

Fig. 1 History of the ITSprogress of Japan

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crisis in the US and European ITS development trends afterin the 1980s and they launched their own R&D projectsbelonging to the BIntelligent Road Traffic System R&DProject^. Typical model of the promotion organization ofgovernment initiative and industrial, academic sectors coop-eration was born in this project. Also, Japanese government,the industry, and the academia could get political and tech-nical knowledge about ITS, from the specific activities ofthe ITS development of the US and Europe. Furthermore,many ITS related technologies, such as digital communica-tion technologies and the shortest route guidance algorithm,were developed in this project and inherited to the BMissionCritical System^ of ITS after. These are reasons why thisproject played a very important role to establish the founda-tion of ITS of Japan.

We think main influential factor of the influential example#1 is the establishment of the promotion organization of gov-ernment initiative and industrial, academic sectors coopera-tion. This organization is considered to be a influential factorbecause it was evaluated highly by ITS related people over-seas and subsequently similar types of organizations wereinherited in the national ITS projects of Japan [18]. In addi-tion, with respect to the development of systems, the R & Dsubsidy system by the government also is said to be theinfluential factor because this system made it easy for uni-versities and private companies to participate to the ITS na-tional projects and strengthen the power of R&D. Besides,foresight and competitiveness of ITS related ministries andagencies that launched the BIntelligent Road Traffic SystemR&D Project^ in a timely manner were said to be the hiddeninfluential factor.

4.2.2 The Challenge to the Car Navigation System of PrivateCompanies Which Accelerated the Progressof the Car-Electronic Technologies of Japan by Leapsand Bounds

One of the forces that evolved the ITS of Japan to the topworld level is said to be the development of the car-electronic technologies by private companies. In the 1970sand the 1980s, private automobile manufacturers and electri-cal or electronics manufacturers participated in the BIntelligentRoad Traffic System R&D Projects^, and accumulated thepower of the car-electronics technologies. Since the 1980s,these companies challenged the Car Navigation Systemwhichwas a previously untapped field. The car-electronics technol-ogies of manufacturers accumulated by the government pro-jects were evolved rapidly through combining with theBOptimizing Technology^ of Japan, such as miniaturization,higher performance, and cost reduction. The progress of thiscar-electronics technologies, made a significant contributiontowards the development and the spread, of the BMission Crit-ical System^ of ITS.

From the above, one of the influential factors that greatlyevolved ITS of Japan, was the progress of electronics technol-ogies which was an important technology in the BEarly andFirst stages^. We think the influential factor of the influentialexample #2 was the fusion between the accumulated car-electronics technologies and the BOptimizing Technology^of a specialty of a Japanese company. The fusion betweenthe accumulated car-electronics technologies and theBOptimizing Technology^ of a specialty of a Japanese com-pany could be listed up as the influential factor of the influen-tial example #2. However, we would like to propose the vital-ities and technical capabilities of Japanese private companiesthat continued promoting tenaciously the development of theCar Navigation System through many years, as a most basicinfluential factor, in the BEarly and First stages^ [19].

4.2.3 The BITS National Strategy^ and BIT Strategy^Which Strongly Contributed to the ITS Progress of Japanby the Continuous Enactment and Announcement of TheirStrategies

The ITS development in Japan, the US, and Europe started inearnest after the 1st ITS world conference in 1994 was held inParis. The BAdvanced Information and TelecommunicationsSociety Promotion Headquarters^, enacted the BBasic Policytowards an Advanced Information and TelecommunicationsSociety^ as a first Japanese BITS National Strategy^ in 1995.In response to this, ITS related ministries and agencies enactedthe BInformation Implementation Indicator in a Road, Traffic,and the Vehicles Field^, in 1995 and also enacted theBComprehensive Plan for ITS^ in 1996. The direction ofR&D and deployment of ITS of Japan was determined bythese ITS National Strategies.

From 2001, the BIT Strategic Headquarters^ enacted vari-ous IT Strategies, for more than a decade continuously, suchas the Be-Japan strategy ,̂ the BNew IT Reform Strategy ,̂ theBNew Strategy in Information and communicationtechnology ,̂ and the BDeclaration to be the World’s MostAdvanced IT Nation^. These ITS measures developed bythe BITS National Strategy^ and the BIT Strategy ,̂ led ITSof Japan steadily and strongly, since 1995. In the BFirst andSecond stages^, the BITS National Strategy^ and the BITStrategy^ is said to be the influential example of ITS, for thereason of the strong leadership, the planning ability, and im-plementation ability of the Headquarters. To be concrete, theBAdvanced Information Communication Society PromotionHeadquarters^ enacted the several ITS National Strategies ina short term from 1995 to 1996. Also, the BIT StrategyHeadquarters^ enacted several IT Strategies continuously,for a long time. Furthermore, ITS related ministries and agen-cies evolved ITS of Japan to the present high level byimplementing many ITS measures by strong policy drivingforce.

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4.2.4 The BRoad Traffic Policy^Which Steadily ImplementedITS Measures that were Enacted by the BITS NationalStrategy^ and the BIT Strategy^

NPA, MLIT Road Bureau, and MLIT Road Transport Bureauare responsible for the BRoad Traffic Policy .̂ In the BFirst andSecond stages^, these ministry and agency steadily imple-mented the various ITS measures, such as development ofthe BMission Critical System^ and the breakthrough ofBValley of Death^ in their BRoad Traffic Policies^, and con-tributed to the ITS progress of Japan. We show the followingITS measures which were implemented by the BRoad TrafficPolicies^ as the concrete influential examples.

1) The practical implementation of the BMission CriticalSystem^ of ITS

The BITS National Strategy^ and the BIT Strategy^advocated strongly the necessity of promote practicalimplementation for the BMission Critical System^ ofITS, such as VICS, ETC., ASV, and UTMS. As a result,the development and the spread, of the BMission CriticalSystem^ of ITS were progressed, in a timely manner, bythe BRoad Traffic Policies^ of NPA and MLIT. In otherwords, the influential factor was that the ITS measureswere implemented efficiently and effectively, by the co-operation of the BRoad Traffic Policy^ and the BITSNational Strategy^/ BIT strategy .̂, just like two wheelsof a car.

In addition, the each BMission Critical System^ ofITS of Japan has a single specification in each systems,and system users have higher information literacy. Wethink these characteristics are also the hidden influentialfactors for ITS of Japan.

2) The promotion of traffic safety related measuresTraffic safety measures were regarded as important in

the BRoad Traffic Policy .̂ The BTraffic Safety FacilitiesMaintenance Business^ and BTraffic Safety Basic Plan^were implemented repeatedly as a long-term plan in theBRoad Traffic Policy .̂ These Plans gave indirect aid tothe ITS progress. Particularly, it is remarkable facts thatthe BTraffic Safety Basic Plans^ were implemented at thesame timing as the IT Strategies. We think that this coop-eration boosted the promotion of ITS measures of safety.

3) The construction of infrastructure systems for the BRoadTraffic Information^

Traffic control centers of the general roads and high-ways have been developed since the 1960s by the BRoadTraffic Policy .̂

Also for the purpose of centralized management of theroad traffic information of general roads and highways,the BJapan Road Traffic Information Center^ (JARTIC)was established in 1970. Thus, in Japan, the system thatany people can access the road traffic information of the

main roads in Japan in real time has been completed.Also, the development of the digital road map databaseby the BRoad Traffic Policy^ has helped to strengthen theJapanese road traffic information infrastructure.

We think that Japanese information infrastructures,mentioned above, can be said to be the influential factorof the BRoad Traffic Policy ,̂ because these are uniqueto Japan and played a big role in the ITS progress ofJapan.

5 Study of Influential Factors and Strong Pointsof ITS of Japan

5.1 A Summary of the Influential Examplesand the Influential Factors

We can summarize the relationship between each influentialexample and influential factor, as follows, using results ofsector 4. The Influential example #1 on the government orga-nization view point is the BIntelligent Road Traffic SystemR&D Projects^.

The promotion organization of government initiative andindustrial, academic sectors cooperation should be placed on amain influential factor.

The influential example #2 is the challenge to the Car Nav-igation System of private companies which corresponds to theinfluential examples #1. We think that the main influentialfactor of the influential example #2 should be the vitalitiesand technical capabilities of private companies.

On the other hand, about the BITS National Strategy andBIT Strategy ,̂ of influential example # 3 on the Strategy andthe Policy view point, we think that the political promotionpowers of the BAdvanced Information and Telecommunica-tions Society Promotion Headquarters^ and the BIT StrategyHeadquarters^, should be the main influential factors. Thepolitical promotion powers include leadership, planning capa-bility, and implementation power. In addition, on the sameview point, about the BRoad Traffic Policy^ of the influentialexample # 4, we think that the timely cooperative promotionby the BRoad Traffic Policy^ and the BITS National Strategy^/BIT strategy .̂

The relationships among influential examples and influ-ential factors which contributed the ITS progress of Japanare shown in Fig. 2. This shows that, two kinds of forcespromoted efficiently and effectively the practical imple-mentation of the BMission Critical System^ of ITS. Oneis the force of organizations and technologies, of the gov-ernment, universities, and private companies, and anotheris the force of the strategies and policies, of thegovernment.

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5.2 The Strong Points of ITS of Japan

From Fig. 2, we think that influential factors could be clas-sified into organization, technology, system, strategy, policy,personnel, etc. Thus, we can represent strong points of ITSof Japan structurally in Fig. 3, by using small influentialfactors in addition to main influential factors. From Figs. 2and 3, we think that one of the strong points of ITS of Japanis BFour Advanced Foundations^ that support the ITS envi-ronment of Japan. Another is the BCooperative PromotionOrganization^ that can produce strong promotion powers.The details are as follows.

5.2.1 The Promotion Organization of Government Initiativeand Industrial, Academic Sectors Cooperation

The current cooperative promotion organization which cansynthesize powers of concerned organizations is the strongpoint of ITS of Japan. This organization includes strongleadership, planning capability, and implementation power,of the current BIT Strategic Headquarters^. Also this organi-zation includes strong political driving force of ITS relatedministries and agencies. Furthermore, universities and pri-vate companies etc., have strong powers of R&D and thespread, of ITS of Japan.

Fig. 2 Relationship amonginfluential examples andinfluential factors

Fig. 3 The strong points of ITSof Japan

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5.2.2 Four Strong Foundations Supporting the ITSEnvironment of Japan

From the resulting influential factors, the foundationsupporting the ITS environment of Japan, are classified intofour types of following

1) The development foundationThere were following political, technical, and

systematical ITS measures in Japan which pushed for-ward the practical implementation of the BMission Criti-cal System^ of ITS of Japan. One was the cooperativepromotion like two wheels of a car which was the com-bination of BRoad Traffic Policy^ and the BITS NationalStrategy^ / BIT strategy .̂ This cooperative promotion ac-celerated the practical implementation of the BMissionCritical System^ of ITS in cooperation politically. Sec-ond, the vitalities and technical capabilities, of the privatecompanies of automotive, electrical or electronics techni-cally accelerated the practical implementation of theBMission Critical System^ of ITS of Japan. Third, thesubsidy systems by the government to private companiesmade it easy for them to participate in the government ITSProjects. These ITS measures constructed the strong de-velopment foundation of ITS of Japan.

2) The information foundationThe BRoad Traffic Policy^ developed several advanced

information systems, such as the traffic control system, theroad traffic information system, and the digital road map,for a long term, in the whole country. These are not seenmuch in the US and Europe, are the Japan-specific foun-dation systems. ITS of Japan had an extremely high advan-tage that could develop new ITS related systems, on thefoundation, in comparison with the US and Europe.

3) The system foundationThe BMission Critical System^ of ITS had many kinds

of systems and were spread in the whole country. Thesesystems were developed with a single national specifica-tion of each system. It was very convenient for both thesystem user and system supplier, to add new systems toexisting BMission Critical System^.

4) The human foundationIt is said that ITS users of Japan are in a single race, and

have a high information literacy by the use experience ofinformation equipment, such as a recent Smartphone andthe Car Navigation System. From this fact, it is said thatJapanese people have social acceptance nature to advancedITS services, and can also use advanced ITS goods.

In this way, ITS of Japan has been promoted by theorganization of governmental, industrial, and academicsectors cooperation on the ITS environment which hasbeen supported by the four foundations which are the de-velopment, information, system, and human foundations.

6 Way of Thinking of Future ITS Promotion

As mentioned in sector 2, although many kinds of ITS are inpractical use in Japan at present, the improvement effect byITS is not enough, compared with the volume of the actualsocial loss attributed to road traffic. Expansion of the ITSeffect is necessary from now on.

In the following section we propose a way of thinkingabout future ITS promotion in a manner that leads to an ex-pansion of the ITS effect.

6.1 Way of Thinking of Expansion of the ITS Effect

6.1.1 Expansion of ITS Effect by Upgrading the BMissionCritical System^

The direction of upgrading are considered to be integration orcombination, by several BMission Critical System^. Repre-sentative of this example which is already in practical use isBITS spots^. This is the example of the effect expansion byintegration of VICS and ETC. Improved communication per-formance of a radio beacon can realize more accurate dynamicroute guidance in the wider area than VICS. This integrationhas the potential to reduce wasted time.

There is the next generation DSSS which is a combinationof the new 700 MHz band radio beacon and the existing lightbeacon, as the experimental system example. This combina-tion intends to cover the safety area and efficiency area whichcould not be covered by light beacons previously, by newradio beacons. In addition, the combination of BITS spot^and the Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) is expected to reducewasted time resulting from traffic jams on the highway.

By the integration or combination of the existing BMissionCritical System^, these upgraded systems are intended to pro-duce new effects or expansion of current effects, which couldnot be achieved by a single system.

6.1.2 Creation of New ITS Effect by the Developmentof the New Systems

Currently, the study of the utilization of the BProbeInformation^ is being performed by the BDeclaration to betheWorld’sMost Advanced ITNation^. ITS related ministriesand agencies as well as the private companies such as auto-mobile and contents companies, are gathering BProbeInformation^ and studying the utilization of it individually.The utilization of BProbe information^ has stochastic compo-nent; the greater the kind and amount of data, the greaterimprovement of the utilization effect. For example, use of acommon database, which ITS related ministries and agenciesand private companies built together using their BProbe Infor-mation,^ will expand the ITS effectiveness.

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6.2 Application of the Strong Points of ITS of Japan,and the Future Subjects

We think the development of the upgrading and the newBMission Critical System^, are easy in the case of using thestrong points of ITS, such as current promotion organizationand foundation systems, of ITS of Japan. However, theBMission Critical System^ has been developed and managedby one ITS related ministries and agencies, except a part, sofar. For future expansion of ITS effect, as mentioned earlier,the integration or combination of the BMission CriticalSystem^, and the public-private cooperative systems are ef-fective. In other words, ITS related ministries and agenciescooperation, and the public-private cooperation, are evenmore important points for the expansion of ITS effect.

At the same time as the ITS developments in Japan requirescompetition among ITS related ministries and agencies, re-quires also cooperation among them in timely manner. Theconstruction of the cooperation system is the future subject.ITS related ministries and agencies should jointly enact andpropose ITS measures which extend beyond that of the indi-vidual administrative frameworks.

7 Conclusion

We did this study for the purpose of reduction of social lossesattributed to road traffic expected at present, by using ITS. Inthis paper, we derived the influential factors and strong pointsof ITS by analyzing history of the ITS progress of Japan, andapplied strong points to the future ITS promotion policy, andshowed the process which makes improvement effects by ITSof Japan increase.

As discussed in sector 5, ITS of Japan has two kinds ofstrong points. One is the BFour advanced foundations^ thatsupport the ITS environment of Japan. Another is theBPromotion organization of the government initiative and in-dustrial, academic sectors cooperation^ that can produce strongpromotion power of practical implementation of ITS. The fourfoundations are the development, the information, the system,and the human infrastructures that are native to Japan. Thepromotion organization is the combination organization of theBIT Strategy Headquarters^, ITS related ministries and agen-cies, universities, and private companies which promote theplanning, development, and spread of ITS of Japan.

As discussed in Sector 6, upgrading the existing BMissionCritical Systems^ of ITS, and developing new ITS systems areeffective for increase of improvement effects of ITS by applyingthe strong points of ITS to the future ITS promotion policy.Concretely, it is important to develop a comprehensive systemby integration or combination using the existing BMission Crit-ical Systems^ and also to develop a new ITS system, by thecooperation of ITS related ministries and agencies. Also it is

important to make efforts to maximize improvement effects ofthe comprehensive system and the new ITS system.

We think that the fountainhead of the strong political driv-ing force of ITS related ministries and agencies is the compet-itiveness among them. At the same time as the ITS progress ofJapan requires competition among ITS related ministries andagencies, requires also cooperation among them in timelymanner. We think that ITS related ministries and agenciesshould establish a new cooperation promotion organizationto strengthen the current promotion organization of ITS ofJapan. The new cooperation promotion organization shouldaim to build a common target and enact the comprehensiveITS measures which extend beyond the individual administra-tive frameworks of ITS related ministries and agencies.

References

1. The Traffic Bureau, the National Police Agency: The generatingsituation of the traffic accident in 2013. http://www.e-stat.go.jp/SG1/estat/List.do?lid=000001117549

2. Cabinet Office: The surveillance study report about economicalanalysis of the damage and loss of traffic accidents. http://www8.cao.go.jp/koutu/chou-ken/19html/houkoku.html

3. Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism: countrytraffic white paper in the 2007 fiscal year, Country traffic whitepaper in the 2011 fiscal year. http://www.mlit.go.jp/statistics/file000004.html

4. Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, Inc.: CO2 emissionstransition and the reduction target of the transportation section.http://www.jama.or.jp/eco/earth/graph_04.html

5. Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism: ASV pro-motion plan report, 2011.6. http://www.mlit.go.jp/jidosha/anzen/01asv/resourse/data/asv4pamphlet_seika.pdf

6. VICS Center: Compilation of survey results of social and economiceffect of providing VICS information, 2006 fiscal year

7. Advanced Information and Telecommunications SocietyPromotion Headquarters: Basic Policy towards an AdvancedInformation and Telecommunications Society. http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/it/990422ho-7.html

8. ITS relevant ministries and agencies: Information implementationindicator in a Road traffic, and vehicle field. http://www.mlit.go.jp/road/ITS/j-html/ITSinJapan/mri2.html

9. ITS relevant ministries and agencies: Comprehensive plan for ITS.http://www.mlit.go.jp/road/ITS/j-html/5Ministries/index.html

10. IT Strategic Headquarters: e-Japan strategy. http:www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/IT2/dai1/1siryou05

11. IT Strategic Headquarters: e-Japan priority policy program. http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/IT2/dai3/3siryou40.html

12. Japanese ITS Promotion Meeting: Guideline of ITS promotion.http://www.its-jp.org/category/document/its_promo

13. IT Strategic Headquarters: New IT reform strategy. http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/IT2/kettei/060119honbun.pdf

14. Council for Science and Technology Policy: Grant accelerationproject. http://www8.cao.go.jp/cstp/sonota/its/its.html

15. Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry: The promotion project ofenergy ITS. http://www.nedo.go.jp/activities/FK_00023.html

16. IT Strategic Headquarters: A new strategy in information and com-munication technology. http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/IT2/100511honbun.pdf

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17. IT Strategic Headquarters: Declaration to be the world’s most ad-vanced it nation. http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/it2/kettei/pdf/20130614/siryou1.pdf

18. French, R.L.: A comparison of IVHS progress in the United States,Japan and Europe through 1993. Washington, DC: IVHS America,1994, P6-6~P6-14(6.2 Organization) http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/jpodocs/repts_te/7763.pdf

19. Ito, H.: Integrated development of automotive navigation and routeguidance system- Product development for realization of dreamsand standardization for social acceptance. Synthesiology 4(3)(2011).9 https://www.aist.go.jp/pdf/aist_j/synthesiology/vol04_03/vol04_03_p157_p165.pdf

Kohei Koide received his BE andME degrees from Kyoto Univer-sity in 1972 and 1974. He previ-ously worked in the ITS field ofToyota Motor Corporation. Afterworking at Toyota, he joined thegraduate school of the Universityof Tokyo, and is currently a PhDstudent. His research interests in-clude the ITS policy theory.

Takeshi Oishi is an AssociateProfessor at Institute of IndustrialScience, the University of Tokyo.He received the B.Eng. degree inElectrical Engineering from KeioUniversity in 1999, and the Ph.D.degree in Interdisciplinary Infor-mation Studies from the Universi-ty of Tokyo in 2005. His researchinterests are in 3D modeling fromreality, digital archiving andaugmented/mixed reality.

Katsushi Ikeuchi is a Professorat the University of Tokyo. He re-ceived his B.Eng. degree in Me-chanical Engineering from KyotoUniversity in 1973 and his Ph.D.degree in Information Engineer-ing from the University of Tokyoin 1978. After working at theMITArtificial Intelligence Laboratoryas a postdoctoral fellow for threeyears, MITI Electro-TechnicalLaboratory as a research fellowfor five years, and the CMU Ro-botics Institute as a faculty mem-ber for ten years, he joined the

University of Tokyo in 1996. Dr. Ikeuchi chaired a dozen major confer-ences, including 1995 IEEE-IROS (General), 1996 IEEE-CVPR (Pro-gram), 2003 IEEE-ICCV (Program), 2009 IEEE-ICRA (program). Hiscommunity service also includes IEEE RAS Adcom (98-04, 06-08),IEEE ITSS BOG, IEEE Fellow Committee (2010–2012), and 2nd VPof IAPR. He is an Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Com-puter Vision, and a fellow of IEEE, IEICE, IPSJ, and RSJ. Through theseresearch activities and community service, Dr. Ikeuchi received the IEEEPAMI-TC Distinguished Researcher Award (2011) and the Shiju Housho(Medal of Honor with Purple ribbons) from the Japanese Emperor (2012).

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