In an effort to develop next-generation roads in Japan, Toyota has developed an onboard DSRC (dedicated short-range communications) unit intended to increase traffic safety by providing drivers real-time, close-vicinity traffic information. A roadside DSRC device sends traffic information and other information to help increase driving safety to the onboard DSRC unit; the unit then passes on the information to the driver through the navigation system in written, graphic or other image form or through voice guidance.
The navigation-system-linked DSRC unit, through the use of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) technologies, including Japan’s electronic toll collection framework, receives a wide range of traffic information via vehicle-infrastructure communications and provides it to highway drivers in visual form and through voice guidance. It alerts drivers to obstacles they cannot see on the road ahead around curves, such as stopped vehicles and stopped-up traffic. It also alerts drivers to merging vehicles.
Through such activities, Toyota is reinforcing a wide range of traffic safety measures, including the development of safer vehicles and technologies, while also participating in the development of traffic environments and conducting traffic safety awareness activities, as part of its efforts to eliminate traffic fatalities and accidents toward the achievement of sustainable mobility.Toyota plans to offer the DSRC unit in Japan on a new vehicle model soon to be launched.
