Smart Car-to-Car Navigation Network in Japan

nomrniceguy writes "Japan now boasts some of the latest technology in zapping computerized data to millions of cars, delivering what may be the world's smartest way to drive. New navigation systems in Japan can quickly tell drivers which roads have traffic jams. A computerized FM radio broadcast system that collects and sends information from more than 28,000 infrared and radio-wave beacons installed along roads, they can also calculate how many seconds it would take to drive through virtually every block of the nation's cities and then find the fastest routes. In tests by the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, a Japanese research group, cars connect to other cars wirelessly to get information about a traffic accident or an approaching ambulance."

Comments

Malicious Worms

[DominoTree]

Since they're all connected, couldn't a malicious worm cause lots of navigation issues?

Re:Malicious Worms

[forceflow2]

Or cause the system to advertise a great viagra alternative.

Small Problem...

[MattJakel]

Wouldn't mass adoption of this technology kind of destroy the point? If everyone was told the fastest route, eventually more traffic would come there until everything was at an equilibrium... but maybe that would be considered ideal by some...

Re:Small Problem...

[3-State Bit]

Did you know that if there's a ten-car jam in a tunnel, with clear road ahead, and clear road for a ways behind, then if we get the traffic that's coming up behind the jam to lose some time by making a detour, maintaining its speed and distance-between-cars, etc, while the ten cars start moving again, then the jam disappears -- but if we let the traffic that's coming up behind all reach the traffic jam while the hind car is still at a stand-still, and come to a stop behind it, all in turn, then there's still a jam? Only now instead of 10 cars it consists of however many cars were all cruising fine? (If it's on a highway, where these groups of cars aren't segmented by traffic lights, then this can be a huge number of cars. That's why you can have 45 minutes of stop-and-go traffic even though ahead of the whole jam is clear road and there's absolutely no reason that these hundreds of cars should be at a stand-still, except that an accident HAD occurred, miles and miles ahead of where the current traffic jam is, over an hour ago.)

wireless connection?

[deathazre]

cars connect to other cars wirelessly to get information about a traffic accident or an approaching ambulance.

this is one of the big reasons I have my CB on channel 19 all of the time. it's quite nice.

just have to deal with some of the truckers trying to be funny.

Well, that wouldn't be hard...

[BJH]

New navigation systems in Japan can quickly tell drivers which roads have traffic jams.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main(void) {
getc(stdin);
printf("Yes.\n");
exit(0);
}

$ gcc -o nav nav.c
$ ./nav
Is there a traffic jam on this road?
Yes.
$


And I'm not joking...

Japan

[mboverload]

Japan gets all the new stuff because of the culture, people. Young people's coolness is judged by the level of technology they have, not some stupid shoes. When a girl asks for something, it isn't the latest hat, it is the latest handheld media player.

People in Japan get the cool stuff because they BUY the cool stuff. However, in the US retailers do not like to take chances. We are conservative in our buying, looking for the greatest value, while the cool factor is what matters in Japan.

This means, sadly, we nerds get screwed.

Re:Japan

[forceflow2]

This means, sadly, we nerds get screwed.

And not the good kind of screwed, neither.

Re:Japan

[Anonymous Coward]

Young people's coolness is judged by the level of technology they have, not some stupid shoes. When a girl asks for something, it isn't the latest hat, it is the latest handheld media player.

I take it you've never really lived in Japan. Or you only hung out with geeks.

Cool cell phones and tech items are cool, but cool shoes, clothes etc. are just as much, if not more of an issue in Japan. If you visit Japan and look around, you should notice that 99% of Japanese are better dressed than their American counterparts. You'd also notice that most of the girls carry Gucci, Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Bvlgari or Prada bags, purses, wallets etc. Same goes for sneakers, sandals and so on.

So while high-tech gadgets certainly hold a certain coolness factor amongst non-geeks, that doesn't mean that clothing items don't have value.

Re:Japan

[mad flyer]

What do you exactly mean by better ?

I live in Nagoya and it's either secretary uniforms to look sexy in a fetichist way or a mix of poorly tasted branded clothes. With no regard to matching the style or color.
Last autumn fashion was some kind of cowgirl/mooboots shoes with fishnet stockings a tank top over a t-shirt with lace collard and wool bonnet.

AND I'M NOT MAKING THIS UP. it was everyday, everywhere.

Yes there's cool things in Japan (including schollgirls uniforms). But good taste is not part of them...

Re:Japan

[McFadden]

As a Japanese resident (originally from the UK) I kinda disagree with the above comment.

Yes, Japanese fashion can sometimes be different from western tastes, but this doesn't necessarily make it "good" or "poor" - it's just different.

One thing I really like about Japan is the non-judgemental attitude that most Japanese seem to take to individuality in fashion. You can walk down the street in a pair of pyjamas and gumboots and people don't turn to each other and "tut tut" as if they the arbiter elegantiarum of what is the right or wrong thing to wear.

Conversely when I lived in London, I would often hear people saying, "oh look at her - what does she think she's wearing?" in a similar fashion to the writer of the parent comment.

Re:Japan

[jrumney]

99% of Japanese are better dressed than their American counterparts.

99% of anyone are better dressed than their American counterparts. Except maybe Canadians.

Actually, most Japanese have pretty awful fashion sense, they just buy a lot of designer labels and follow sometimes bizarre trends (loose socks, anyone?). But still, better than their American counterparts.

Cars not only beneficiary of computerization.

[Sheetrock]

In downtown Japan, there are a great deal of computerized navigational assistants as well. Pay phones, largely obsolete because of the prevalence of cellphones, have been adapted to 'phone maps' -- lift a receiver up and a cheerful voice (or sometimes a flat tone) will request where you want to go.

Upon speaking the destination (speech to text is not perfect, especially if you don't speak the language, so it may take a couple tries) you'll notice a RFID-tagged card issued from the machine and speakers along the sidewalk will guide you to where you want to go, within reason. More modern places will also light the sidewalks with your issued card color, although this relies on service funding by the merchants.

Hack it

[dotslashdot]

A great hack would be to redirect all the annoying drivers talking on the cell phone, putting on make up, having sex and playing the guitar while driving into the ocean.

It's all fun and games...

[Raijin Z]

...until some political undesirables are directed into a fiery death. "The bridge around this blind corner is NOT out. Please proceed quickly."

This would be useful...

[putaro]

If Japan had any alternate routes to take that were viable. We drove from Tokyo down to Kakegawa yesterday to spend New Year's with my in-laws. 3 cm of snow fell which resulted in the Tomei Expressway (a large north-south toll road and major transportation link) being closed. The trip normally takes about 2-3 hours with plenty of time for stopping to let the 2 year old run around.

We wound up spending 12 hours in the car yesterday. All of the traffic diverted from the Tomei onto local roads combined with the snow and snow-clueless drivers made one massive traffic jam. We were averaging 2-3 km/hr for a large part of the day.

That's kind of cool..

[EvilStein]

But maybe something like traffic.com would be more efficient?

I think that it would be cool to have an LCD screen in the car with realtime information from something like traffic.com beamed in realtime.

Maybe piggyback on a Sirius satellite stream or something neat like that? ;)

Traffic in Japan can be a nightmare. when I lived there, I remember seeing LED billboard type signs above the highway with colors indicating the traffic patterns ahead.
Actually, I'm surprised that they haven't done the "get realtime data to your car via satellite" thing yet. Traffic & weather would be useful to have. At the very least, it's something to look at when you're stuck in traffic.

Here's what would rule.

[Renraku]

Imagine if there were an 'optimum speed' that the computer reccomended that everyone go to ensure smooth flow of traffic. It'd take a lot of processing power, but it could be done.

Now imagine this speed is broadcast out to cars and the speed could vary between lanes. So this pretty much eliminates unnecessary traffic jams and fixes the 'wave' effect of traffic.

The Future in Japan is 3 years old in the UK

[Ian.Waring]

A traffic monitoring network around all the major UK roads, and a talking SatNav that uses the data to route people around traffic jams as they happen. See here. Yours for around $1200 plus a $230/year subscription at current conversion rates - and it can optionally do speed camera warnings and stolen vehicle tracking too.

Takes an average of 10 minutes to spot a jam with the current coverage (28,000 sensors on 9,000 miles of roads if my memory serves me right).

Over 10 car manufacturers fit this as an optional extra this side of the pond. 30,000 units (in a vehicle population of over 23,000,000) sold to date - still way to go.

Ian W.

Re: Fashion in Japan

[QueenStupid]

How "good" their taste may be is a matter of opinion. What they are is innovative in style. They mix and match to seek an original and more individual style. And the Japanese aren't the only ones who experiment with style. It just seems like a lot of them have taken the idea to heart.

Contemporary clothing designs straight from the runway are also rather eccentric and may not seem like "good taste" the eyes of the general public either. But it is these new designs that allow fashion to evolve (you don't see petticoats still around...).

cars tell other cars?

[countach]

If cars are communicating with each other, how long till someone hacks it and makes a traffic jam?

Already Been Done

[12x12]

This is at best old news. We already have this in the UK in various versions.

We have sensors hanging from motorway bridges and along major routes they monitor trafic speed and report when it slows down or stops. Some of our systems also report when you are nearing a speed enforcement camera.
Most of these things need a couple of hundred quid (Sorry USAnians out there quid=GB Pounds) subscription per year. OH yeah and some of them can track stolen cars by using the mobile phone network to triangulate the position of the vehicle, very accurate (about 10 metres resolution) and hard to defeat.

this would make the traffic worse

[menem]

In a city like Tokyo, this would make the traffic worse. When the cars move quickly, the road will support a very high auto density. When there is a traffic jam, the road will support a much lower density.

It used to be, that some of the side roads, due to not being known, would have heavy traffic, but not enough to cause a traffic jam. These side roads were near there maximum capacity. As soon as the side road ussge increeased, the road turns into a traffic jam, and the maximum capacity of the side roads decrease

Now, the total delays for the entire system are increased. Instead of helping, these navagition systems just create traffic jams on side roads that were never had a problem before.