This report presents a review of current and planned field trials, in Japan, Europe and North America, involving road-vehicle communication (RVC) systems. The aim of the study was to provide an insight into the state of applications of advanced information, computer and communications technologies in road transport operations, also referred to as road transport informatics or intelligent vehicle/highway systems. A Task Force of the OECD Road Transport Research Programme monitored a selected sample of twenty-two field trials and multipurpose test sites in the period from early 1990 to late 1991, and reported on developments concerning functions and systems tested, test area characteristics and field trial objectives and evaluations. The study report is structured as follows: Chapter I: Introduction; Chapter II: System Functions; Chapter III: Systems; Chapter IV: Characteristics of Field Tests; Chapter V: Overview of the Field Trials; Chapter VI: Policy and Implementation Issues; Chapter VII: Evaluation of the Field Tests: Results and Recommendations; Annex A: Enquiry on Field Tests of RVC Systems; Annex B: Analytical Structure of Functions and Systems. In addition to this report, a background document - available on request from the RTR Programme - contains details of answers to the Group's enquiry. This OECD report provides a documented overview of on-going experimentation with road transport informatics and could be of benefit to road administrations, the automobile and electronics industry and research establishments.
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