In Japan, the police and the road administrators collect road traffic information. The information is disseminated by Japan Road Traffic Information Center (JARTIC), and also by the Vehicle Information and Communication System (VICS) Center to car navigation systems. Regarding the institutional issues on the traffic information dissemination businesses by private companies, the traffic information consortium, that consists of members from universities, private companies and the government institutions, were established and it has been examining the amendment of the Road Traffic Act. On the other hand, the statistical road traffic information is not yet ready to be used for a trucking company to incorporate its computer based freight delivery route planning. It still relies on the past delivery experiences or directly measured travel time and other conditions by trial runs to make a delivery plan. The Kansai ITS Promotion Association (KIPA) established a research group in it, and the group made a study on the application of the traffic information to the freight transportation field. They also carried out the field trial in Osaka to show the improved accuracy of a delivery plan with the accumulated road traffic information.
Samenvatting