IVHS—An automotive perspective

IVHS is viewed as a marriage of the "Smart Vehicle" and "Smart Highway" into an integrated vehicle/highway system. Its ultimate success will be highly dependent upon the acceptance and continued use of in-vehicle IVHS equipment by the vehicle drivers. Electronics has been effectively used in today's vehicles to enhance its performance, reduce emissions, improve economy, and to increase driver and occupant safety, comfort and convenience. Its use has been primarily market driven, its implementation has been evolutionary rather than revolutionary and in some cases its success has been very sensitive to driver acceptance. In-vehicle IVHS equipment is expected to follow the same trends. One objective of this paper is to review the automotive electronic trends for the past 30 years to determine the forces behind the rapid expansion of electronics in our modern day vehicles. Some of the lessons learned that could benefit the implementation of IVHS technologies will be highlighted. The paper will discuss the current trends in automotive electronics, as viewed by the author, that may influence the future implementation of related in-vehicle IVHS equipment. A variety of in-vehicle IVHS offerings will be required to satisfy the different driver needs for traffic assistance. These offerings may span from simple highway advisory radios (HAR) to very sophisticated route guidance systems. To justify the billions of dollars required for the "Smart" highways, affordable in-vehicle systems must be available to allow most, if not all, drivers to access the traffic advisory system. The paper will be concluded with a discussion of the issues that need to be addressed to insure driver acceptance which is felt necessary for the success of IVHS.