DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF INTERURBAN EXPRESSWAY "VEHICLE INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEM" (VICS)

By providing correct traffic and incident information, such as travel time, certain merits are expected: 1) less congestion and shorter travel time; 2) improved safety; 3) increased comfort in driving; and 4) a better driving environment. In Japan, a vehicle information and communication system (VICS) is being developed that integrates information from all related organizations, such as police and road operators, at a VICS center. Information is provided to users by beacons that utilize narrow beams. This paper describes development and management of VICS, which uses semi-microwave on an expressway. Steps on how to provide information to users are as follows: 1) road and traffic information is gathered at traffic control centers, translated into a universal VICS format, and transmitted to the VICS center; 2) the VICS center integrates the information and transmits it to the traffic control centers and simultaneously the information is transformed to data, which are sent on the air by multiplex FM; 3) traffic control centers edit the information and transmit to the beacon centers; and 4) beacons accumulate the information from beacon centers and broadcasts to on-board equipment, which processes the information and provides information to end users in the form of figures, letters, or voices.