This paper describes 4 types of people classified according to their attitudes toward "a car" and "information" and the projected diffusion process of ITS. The ITS market is assumed to gradually grow along with the so-called "S-shaped-line diffusion process". The critical users of ITS at each development stage are as follows. The 1st stage: People who are heavily involved in a car and "male-type" in terms of dealing with a car. (They love driving and a car itself, and enjoy the process of collecting information.) The 2nd stage: People who are heavily involved in a car and "female-type" in terms of dealing with information. (They love driving and a car itself, and want to make good use of information.) The 3rd stage: People who are not heavily involved in a car and "male-type" in terms of dealing with information. (They regard a car as a tool for some other purposes and enjoy the process of collecting information.) The 4th stage: People who are not heavily involved in a car and "female-type" in terms of dealing with information. (They regard a car as a tool for some other purposes and want to make good use of information.) In order to popularize ITS, it is essential to provide people with "dreams" and "visions", or in other words, "what kind of values ITS will bring about to people" in the future, however, it is also important to continuously offer "values" relevant to lifestyles of the potential users at each development stage. (A*)
Abstract