Japanese carmaker Nissan has announced plans to test an 鈥渋ntelligent transportation system鈥� that sends wireless messages to passing cars. The company said on Friday that it plans to include 10,000 drivers in a 30-month experiment.
Messages will be beamed optically from roadside beacons to passing cars in the trial. Information received by an onboard computer will then be used to alert a driver to potential danger from an approaching vehicle or inform them of traffic congestion ahead, Nissan said in a statement.
The test will start on 1 October 2006 on public roads in Kanagawa, a prefecture just south of Tokyo, with the carmaker hoping to commercialise the system by 2010.
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The project is seen as viable in Japan because more than 50% of cars are already equipped with navigational gadgets such as satellite Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, compared with fewer than 10% in the US and Europe.
Vehicle alert
The experiment will test several functions including a 鈥渧ehicle alert鈥� which tells drivers that another vehicle is moving too fast at a blind intersection. In this situation a voice message warns the driver: 鈥淐ar approaching from left (or right)鈥�.
When drivers are travelling above the speed limit a 鈥渟peed alert鈥� will be issued. In a school zone a warning sign appears on the navigation screen and a voice warning states: 鈥淪chool ahead. Watch your speed.鈥�
The system also includes 鈥渄ynamic route finder鈥� which informs drivers of the quickest route to their destination using data collected from other vehicles. Drivers will be able to synchronise their cellphone with a car鈥檚 navigation system in order to relay information about their journey to a central command system.
