Japanese projects on automobile information and communication systems—Things aimed at and obtained in 20 years' experiences

In the early 1970's, the CACS project started concurrently with the introduction of traffic signal control systems in urban streets and of systems for presenting traffic information on freeways to solve the severe problems of traffic congestion, traffic safety and air pollution. The goal of CACS was broken down into many sub-projects and pursued in the ATICS project for advanced traffic management and in several small projects in the early 1980's. The planning for the well known RACS and AMTICS projects in the late 1980's was based on this accumulation of knowledge. The expectation of greater business opportunities stimulated the participants and led some large-scale of projects to success. Twenty years of continuous experience will be effectively used in planning the new IVHS projects for the early 1990's, including the Next Generation Highway Traffic Systems and Super Smart Vehicle System projects.