DEMONSTRATIVE EXPERIMENT ON A ROAD PRICING SYSTEM MAKING THE BEST USE OF INFRARED BEACONS

As part of traffic demand management (TDM), measures for subjecting vehicles to road pricing are under examination with the view of alleviating traffic congestion and enhancing the environment. As a means of subjecting vehicles to road pricing, researchers at the National Police Agency (NPA), Japan are looking into methods of implementing a road pricing system through communication between the in-vehicle unit of a vehicle and roadside equipment, a system which makes the best use of cameras, etc. By using optical communication as a communication medium, the researchers at the NPA conducted a primary experiment in the field to confirm that the Vehicle Information and Communication Systems- (VICS)-specific in-vehicle unit communicates positively with infrared beacons installed on the roadside and at the same time to verify technically whether or not the construction of an electronic road pricing system (ERP) is possible by making the best use of infrared beacons, which are one of the existing infrastructures. This paper reports the results of their verification of the primary field experiment.