An unexpected traffic incident, a tie-up tailback, obstacles on a road ahead, which are difficult to identify by the motorists seated in the vehicles following, all contribute to potentially high risk that the motorist will be involved in a multiple-vehicle crash. The road-vehicle communication system is aiming at accurate and timely traffic information provision to the drivers following, enabling him or her to take crash avoidance actions before the actual crash occurs. The information would be provided from roadside infrastructure through road-vehicle communication systems. The incident information transmitted quickly and automatically to the road authorities from each individual vehicle could serve to enable motorists to take preventive actions in an accurate and immediate manner. This paper highlights the incident detection, warning and MAYDAY functions which are defined as Automated Highway System components, focusing on function contents, information to be handled and a network for information processing.
Abstract