Feature
C-ITS and Connected Automated Driving in Japan
Hiroshi Makano Head of Intelligent Transport Systems Division, National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan Member of TC B.1 Road Network Operations / Intelligent Transportation Systems of the World Road Association
ITS in Japan entered its second phase in 2014, when the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) embarked on its "ETC2.0 Project", which aimed at delivering a range of applications for vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications. These applications are being developed based on various types of Cooperative ITS (C-ITS) systems, and a number of innovations for resolving traffic issues are going to be released in Japan. Development of automated driving technology is also rapidly progressing, and automated-driving cars would be available in 2020, according to a statement made by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on October 4, 2015 at an international conference on the future of science, technology and mankind. This report outlines the latest developments of C-ITS, connected and automated driving in Japan.