Skip to main content

History of the Research on Vehicle Automation in Japan

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
From Automated to Autonomous Driving

Part of the book series: Archimedes ((ARIM,volume 70))

  • 29 Accesses

Abstract

The second part of the book provides an historical overview of the research on vehicle automation in Japan. After an introduction to the Japanese industrial policy and the beginning mass motorization after WWII, several chapters detail the first experiments on automated driving using guidance cables that were started in 1961 by the Government Mechanical Laboratory in Higashi-Murayama. After a chapter about a rail-based Computer Controlled Vehicle System (CVS), the following chapter presents the research of the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory (MEL) that developed in the 1970s the worlds first vision-based automobile, called Intelligent Vehicle. A Toyota Crown was equipped with TV-cameras that detected lateral guard rails. It functioned without modification of the road infrastructure and without off-board computing.

The next chapter details the large-scale demonstrations of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) in Japan after the mid-1980s. An experimental vehicle with machine vision, called Personal Vehicle System (PVS) had been created by MITI in 1987. It ran autonomously along straight lines using cameras, lidar and ultrasonic for lane and obstacle detection. The Ministry of Construction initiated in 1995 an Automated Highway System (AHS)-program, leading to the first Japanese AHS-demonstration. The Ministry of Transport launched in 1991 the Advanced Safety Vehicle-project, focusing on vehicle based sensing and active safety assistance systems. This trend to vehicle-based automation concepts led to several demos. The end of the chapter is dedicated to a project of the Japanese automotive industry.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Ioannou, Petros A., ed. 1997. Automated Highway Systems. New York, London, p. 7 and Özgüner, Ümit, Tankut Acarman, and Keith Alan Redmill. 2011. Autonomous Ground Vehicles, p. 4. Boston, London.

  2. 2.

    Tsugawa, Sadayuki. 2011. Automated Driving Systems: Common grounds of Automobiles and Robots. International Journal of Humanoid Robotics 8 (1): 2.

  3. 3.

    保坂明夫, 青木啓二, 津川定之, 自動運転(第2版):システム構成と要素技術, 森北出版 (Translation of the book title in English: Hosaka, Akio, Aoki, Keiji, Tsugawa, Sadayuki, 2019. Automated Driving, Systems and Technologies, 2nd ed. Morikita Publishing, Tokyo).

  4. 4.

    Demographic and geographic factors influence also the attractivity of autonomous driving for a country: First, Japan is an increasingly ageing society. Second, Japan is a mountainous country with little flatland. The population density and the car traffic are very high in urban areas (Tsugawa, Sadayuki. 1992. Concept of Super Smart Vehicle Systems and Their Relation to Advanced Vehicle Control Systems. Transportation Research Record 1358: p. 42).

  5. 5.

    Chalmers, Johnson, 1982. MITI and the Japanese Miracle: The Growth of Industrial Policy, 1925–1975, Stanford 1982, p. 26.

  6. 6.

    Sabouret, Jean-François. 2007. Introduction, Japon: Le grand secret. In L’Empire de l’intelligence: Politiques scientifiques et technologiques du Japon depuis 1945, ed. Jean-François Sabouret, 9–21. Paris.

  7. 7.

    Chalmers 1982, p. 16.

  8. 8.

    Faure, Guy. 2007. Le METI et la science industrielle au Japon. In Sabouret, online in: http://books.openedition.org/editionscnrs/4945 (accessed on January 26, 2018).

  9. 9.

    Rieu, Alain-Marc 2007, Le Japon comme “société de connaissance”: quelles leçons pour la France? Politiques de recherche, innovation et réformes institutionnelles depuis la crise de l’énergie des années 1970. In Sabouret, pp. 185–216.

  10. 10.

    Committee on Japan (ed.), 1997. Maximizing U.S. Interests in Science and Technology Relations with Japan, Committee on Japan Framework Statement and Report of the Competitiveness Task Force, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., online in: https://www.nap.edu/read/5850/chapter/1#iii (accessed January 20, 2018).

  11. 11.

    Morris-Suzuki, Tessa. 1994. The Technological Transformation of Japan: From the Seventeenth to the Twentieth-first Century, p. 171. Cambridge, New York, Melbourne.

  12. 12.

    Ibid., p. 172.

  13. 13.

    Rieu 2007.

  14. 14.

    Harayama, Yuko, Genod, 2007. Laurent, La politique scientifique et technologique au Japon: une perspective historique. In Sabouret, pp. 23–49, online in: http://books.openedition.org/editionscnrs/4942 (Translation from French to English: F.K.) and Faure 2007.

  15. 15.

    Harayama, Genod, 2007 (Translation French to English F.K.) and Faure 2007.

  16. 16.

    Toffler, Alvin, The Third Wave, New York 1980.

  17. 17.

    Morris-Suzuki 1994, pp. 209–219.

  18. 18.

    Lecler, Yveline, 1991. La dynamique du progrès scientifique et technique au Japon. In Gestion 2000, Management & Prospective, No. 4, August–September, p. 155.

  19. 19.

    Ibid., p. 157.

  20. 20.

    Ijichi, Tomohiro. 2012. Innovation policies and reforms in Japan. In The Dynamics of Regional Innovation, Policy Challenges in Europe and Japan, Series on Innovation and Knowledge Management, ed. Yveline Lecler, Tetsuo Yoshimoto, Takahiro Fujimoto, vol. 10, 44. Singapore.

  21. 21.

    Lecler 1991, p. 158.

  22. 22.

    Saito, Mitsuo. 2000. The Japanese Economy. Singapore, New Jersey, London, Hong Kong, p. 223.

  23. 23.

    Okimoto, Daniel I., and Thomas P. Rohlen (ed.). 1988. Inside the Japanese System: Readings on Contemporary Society and Political Economy, p. 144. Stanford.

  24. 24.

    Lukács, Gabriella. 2010. Scripted Affects, Branded Selves: Television, Subjectivity, and Capitalism in 1990s Japan, p. 214. Durham and London: Duke University Press.

  25. 25.

    Already in 1966, the number of road fatalities – 13.904 persons – were important.

  26. 26.

    The numbers of vehicles: 8,123,096 (1966), 16,528,521 (1970), 27,870,475 (1975). Today (2017) there are 81,260,206 vehicles on the road in Japan (see: Automobile Inspection and Registration Information Administration, 自動車保有台数の推移 (軽自動車を含む), (in eng.: Changes in the number of car owners [including mini vehicles]), online in: http://www.airia.or.jp/publish/statistics/ub83el00000000wo-att/hoyuudaisuusuiihyou.pdf [accessed November 9, 2017].

  27. 27.

    Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Chapter 29, Disasters and Accidents, Road Traffic Accidents 1924–2005, online in: http://www.stat.go.jp/data/chouki/zuhyou/29-11.xls (accessed November 9, 2017).

    Note: At this point in history, only fatalities that occurred within 24 h after the accident became part of the statistic – today the limit is 30 days.

  28. 28.

    Sekine, Taro, 2015. The image of automobile safety. In International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences, Interdisciplinary wisdom of IATSS, online in: http://www.iatss.or.jp/common/pdf/en/publication/commemorative-publication/iatss40_theory_06.pdf, p. 62 (accessed November 9, 2017).

  29. 29.

    Roth, Joshua Hotaka. 2017. The shared road: Cars, pedestrians and bicyclists in Japan. In Cars, Automobility and Development in Asia: Wheels of Change, ed. Arve Hansen, and Kenneth Bo Nielsen, 134. London/New York: Routledge.

  30. 30.

    Sekine 2015, p. 62.

  31. 31.

    Naikakufu, Heisei 27 Kotsu anzen hakusho [eng.: White paper on traffic safety], 2015, in: www8.cao.go.jp/koutu/taisaku/h27kou_haku/pdf/gaiyo/1-1-1-1.pdf (accessed February 2, 2018), p. 4, cit. in: Roth 2017, p. 135.

  32. 32.

    Roth 2017, p. 135.

  33. 33.

    Tombo, 日本で最初のテストコース 旧東村山自動車試験道路, July 2, 2009. http://blog.livedoor.jp/thetombo2/archives/51493535.html (accessed December 3, 2017).

  34. 34.

    E-mail of Sadayuki Tsugawa to the author, November 28, 2017.

  35. 35.

    Lecler 1991, p. 150.

  36. 36.

    Morris-Suzuki 1994, p. 115.

  37. 37.

    Ibid., p. 169.

  38. 38.

    In theoretical discussions about “the transfer, adaptation, or convergence of productive models” in the manufacturing industry it has been argued that a “direct transplantation or imitation” is “rarely feasible or even desirable. Systems cannot be transferred without being significantly reshaped.” Some authors privilege a perspective that focusses on the “process of ‘hybridization’”, that means the interaction of different models during the process of innovation (see Boyer, Robert, Elsie Charron, Ulrich Jürgens, and Steven Tolliday. 1998. Introduction: Between Imitation and Innovation: The Transfer and Hybridization of Productive Models in the International Automobile Industry. In Between Imitation and Innovation, The Transfer and Hybridization of Productive Models in the International Automobile Industry, ed. Robert Boyer, Elsie Charron, Ulrich Jürgens, and Steven Tolliday, 1. New York).

  39. 39.

    Oshima, Y., E. Kikuchi, M. Kimura, and S. Matsumoto. 1965. Control System for Automatic Automobile Driving. In Proceedings of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) Tokyo Symposium on Systems Engineering for Control System Design, ed. Kankuro Kaneshige and Keisuke Izawa, pp. 347–357.

  40. 40.

    Oshima et al. 1965, p. 347.

  41. 41.

    Ibid., p. 357.

  42. 42.

    Ibid., p. 351.

  43. 43.

    The Nissan vehicle followed the Toyota vehicle in the experiments for rear end collision avoidance.

  44. 44.

    Ibid., pp. 353f., 356.

  45. 45.

    Matsumoto, Shuntetsu. 1971, February. Highway Communication System Using Guidance Cable. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology VT-20 (1): 12, also confirmed in: Tsugawa, Sadayuki. 2011. Automated Driving Systems: Common grounds of Automobiles and Robots. International Journal of Humanoid Robotics 8 (1): 3.

  46. 46.

    Tsugawa, Sadayuki. 2008. A History of Automated Highway Systems in Japan and Future Issues, Powerpoint-Presentation, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, International Conference on Vehicular Electronics and Safety, Ohio, USA, September 22, 2008, p. 6.

  47. 47.

    Oshima et al. 1965, pp. 348, 355.

  48. 48.

    Ibid., p. 349.

  49. 49.

    This was confirmed by Tsugawa (E-mail of Sadayuki Tsugawa to the author, April 14, 2018).

  50. 50.

    Tsugawa, Sadayuki, Teruo Yatabe, Takeshi Hirose, and Shuntetsu Matsumoto. 1979. An automobile with artificial intelligence, Proceedings of the 6th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, vol. 2, p. 893. San Francisco.

  51. 51.

    Oshima et al. 1965, p. 357.

  52. 52.

    Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Road Bureau, ITS Homepage, Archive, ITS Handbook Japan 2008, AHS (Advanced Cruise-Assist Highway System), online in: http://www.mlit.go.jp/road/ITS/1998HBook/chapter3/3-3e.html (accessed December 12, 2017).

  53. 53.

    Matsumoto 1971, p. 12–16.

  54. 54.

    Matsumoto 1971, p. 12.

  55. 55.

    Ibid., p. 16.

  56. 56.

    Toyo Kogyo (currently Mazda), Mitsubishi Jukogyo (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries), Tokyo Shibaura Denki (Toshiba), Hitachi Seisakusho (Hitachi), Fujitisu, Sumitomo Denki Kogyo (Sumitomo Electric Industries), Nippon Denki (NEC) and Shin-Nihon Seitetsu (currently Nippon Steel Corporation).

  57. 57.

    Ishii, Takemochi, Masakazu Iguchi, and Masaki Koshi. 1976. CVS: Computer-Controlled Vehicle System (trans: Yamashita, Akira). In Personal Rapid Transit III, ed. D.A. Gary, M.J. Gary, A.L. Kornhauser, and W.L. Garrard. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, online in: http://staff.washington.edu/jbs/itrans/cvs%20prt%20paper%20with%20illustrations.pdf (accessed July 7, 2019), p. 79.

  58. 58.

    Ibid.

  59. 59.

    Ibid., p. 81.

  60. 60.

    For safety reasons, the first tests were only conducted with headways of 5 s and a speed of 20–30 km/h. The four seats faced backwards and standing was not permitted (Schneider, Jerry, Description of the Japanese Computer-controlled Vehicle System (CVS) [derived largely from a report entitled Automated Guideway Transit: An Assessment of PRT and Other New Systems, U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, June 1975, November 11, 2014, online in: http://staff.washington.edu/jbs/itrans/cvs1.htm, accessed July 7, 2019]).

  61. 61.

    Anderson, Edward, 1996. Some Lessons from the History of Personal Rapid Transit (PRT), August 4, Conference Paper, online in: http://staff.washington.edu/jbs/itrans/history.htm (accessed on July 8, 2019).

  62. 62.

    Schneider 2014.

  63. 63.

    Ishii et al. 1976.

  64. 64.

    Schneider 2014.

  65. 65.

    Anderson 1996.

  66. 66.

    Tsugawa 1992, p. 42.

  67. 67.

    Toyota, A 75-Year History through Text, Chapter 2: Satisfying Public Needs, Section 2: Response to Increase in Traffic Accidents, Item 5: Research and Development of a Comprehensive Automobile Traffic Control System, in: http://www.toyota-global.com/company/history_of_toyota/75years/text/entering_the_automotive_business/chapter2/section2/item5.html (accessed January 3, 2018).

  68. 68.

    Lanson, Florian, 2010. Les Systèmes de Transport Intelligents au Japon, Rapport d’Étude, Ambassade de France au Japon, Service pour la Science et la Technologie. p. 5f.

    The system evolved in 1984 into RACS (Ministry of Construction) and in 1987 into AMTICS (National Police Agency). The two programs contributed to development of the basic functions of today navigation systems. In 1991 both systems had been combined in the Vehicle Information and Communication System (VICS) from the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication (Wootton, J.R., and A. García-Ortiz. 1995. Intelligent Transportation Systems. Mathematical and Computer Modelling 22 (4–7): 266).

  69. 69.

    Tsugawa, Sadayuki. 2009. A Survey on Effects of ITS–related Systems and Technologies on Global Warming Prevention. In Proceedings of the 12th IFAC Symposium on Transportation Systems, September 2–4, p. 337. Redondo Beach, CA, USA.

  70. 70.

    Tsugawa, Sadayuki, Aoki, Masayoshi, Hosaka, Akio, Seki, Kaoru, A Survey on present IVHS activities in Japan. In 1996 IFAC, 13th Triennial World Congress, p. 7844.

  71. 71.

    Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Road Bureau, ITS Homepage, Comprehensive Plan for ITS in Japan, Chapter 1 Significance of Promoting ITS, 2008, in: http://www.mlit.go.jp/road/ITS/5Ministries/chap1.html (accessed December 12, 2017).

  72. 72.

    Tsugawa et al. 1979, p. 893–895.

  73. 73.

    The term “intelligence-car” was first mentioned by Taketoshi Nozaki, a staff member of Shuntetsu Matsumoto, but it was Matsumoto who coined the name “intelligent car” in 1971 (Nozaki, Taketoshi. 1976. Characteristics of an Automatic Automobile Steering System Using the Information of a Course Deviation at Some Distance Ahead of the Automobile (article in Japanese). Transactions of the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers 12 (6): 687–693, online in: https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/sicetr1965/12/6/12_6_687/_pdf/-char/ja [accessed on June 27, 2019]).

  74. 74.

    Tsugawa et al. 1979, p. 894.

  75. 75.

    E-mail of Sadayuki Tsugawa to the author, April 14, 2018.

  76. 76.

    Ibid.

  77. 77.

    Nozaki 1976.

  78. 78.

    E-mail of Sadayuki Tsugawa to the author, April 14, 2018.

  79. 79.

    Technical specifications of the camera: Tube: 2/3 inch Vidicon (at that time CCD cameras were not available), Resolution: 550 lines, Aspect ratio: 2:1, Scanning frequency: horizontally 30 Hz and vertically 15.75 Hz, Focus length of lens: 12.5 mm, Viewing angle: horizontally 40 deg. and vertically 32 deg. (E-mail of Sadayuki Tsugawa to the author, April 14, 2018).

  80. 80.

    Tsugawa et al. 1979.

  81. 81.

    Ibid., p. 893.

  82. 82.

    The microcomputer consisted of a micro CPU, RAMs (8 KB), ROMs (3 KB), I/O Interfacing LSIs and D/A and A/D converters.

  83. 83.

    Tsugawa et al. 1979, p. 894f.

  84. 84.

    Tsugawa et al. 1979, p. 893.

  85. 85.

    E-mail of Sadayuki Tsugawa to the author, April 14, 2018.

  86. 86.

    Tsugawa 2011, p. 4.

  87. 87.

    Tsugawa et al. 1979, p. 893. Note: In many sources, road marking detection is erroneously attributed to the IV (e.g. Torchinsky, p. 65, Davies, p. 19).

  88. 88.

    Bloom, Justin L., and Shinsuke Asano. 1981.. Tsukuba Science City: Japan Tries Planned Innovation. Science, New Series 212 (4500): 1239–1247.

  89. 89.

    Morris-Suzuki 1994, p. 180.

  90. 90.

    Today, the former test site is a park, the Higashi-Murayama Central Park (see http://wikimapia.org/#lang=fr&lat=35.747731&lon=139.459730&z=16&m=b&show=/object/history/show/?object_type=&id=48095&lng=2&rev=2&rev2=3&search=Higashimurayama)

  91. 91.

    E-mail of Sadayuki Tsugawa to the author, June 30, 2017.

  92. 92.

    Tsugawa, Sadayuki, Takeshi Hirose, and Teruo Yatabe. 1984. An Intelligent Vehicle with Obstacle Detection and Navigation Functions. Industrial Electronics Conference (IECON) 1: 303–308.

  93. 93.

    E-mail of Sadayuki Tsugawa to the author, April 14, 2018.

  94. 94.

    Tsugawa et al. 1984, p. 304.

  95. 95.

    Hirose, Takeshi. 1989. Position Prediction of Automobiles – White Line Detection (in Japanese). Proceedings of the 28th SICE Annual Conference 1: 23–24 (cit. in: Tsugawa, Sadayuki, 1992. Concept of Super Smart Vehicle Systems and Their Relation to Advanced Vehicle Control Systems. Transportation Research Record, Issue 1358, p. 44).

  96. 96.

    E-mail from Sadayuki Tsugawa to the author, April 14, 2018.

  97. 97.

    Tsugawa et al. 1984, p. 303.

  98. 98.

    Ibid., p. 306.

  99. 99.

    Ibid., p. 307 and e-mail from Sadayuki Tsugawa to the author, April 14, 2018.

  100. 100.

    Ibid., p. 308.

  101. 101.

    Ibid., p. 307.

  102. 102.

    Tsugawa et al. 1984.

  103. 103.

    Tsugawa 1992, p. 46.

  104. 104.

    E-mail from Sadayuki Tsugawa to the author, April 14, 2018.

  105. 105.

    Interview of the author with Sadayuki Tsugawa, Tokyo, May 21, 2018.

  106. 106.

    ITS Japan, About ITS, in: http://www.its-jp.org/english/about_e/ (accessed January 30, 2018).

  107. 107.

    In the United States, a similar structure can be identified: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is in charge of vehicles (e.g. research on assistance systems) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is in charge of highways (e.g. research on highway signs). Both administrations are part of the Department of Transportation. They cooperated on big projects like the AHS Demo 97 (see Sect. 2.6.2).

  108. 108.

    VanderWerf, Joel, Steven Shladover, and Mark A. Miller. 2004.. Conceptual Development and Performance Assessment for the Deployment Staging of Advanced Vehicle Control and Safety Systems, California PATH Research Report UCB-ITS-PRR-2004-22, August 2004, online in: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3476/e3f1195402060c9398e95674f7c2c6d0fa49.pdf (accessed on July 8, 2019), p. 19 (p. 60 in pdf).

  109. 109.

    Taniguchi, M., et al. 1991. The Development of Autonomously Controlled Vehicle, PVS. In Proceedings of the 1991 Vehicle Navigation and Information Systems Conference, pp. 1137–1141 (cit. in: Tsugawa 1992, p. 45).

  110. 110.

    Tsugawa 2008, p.13.

  111. 111.

    Tsugawa 1992, p. 45.

  112. 112.

    Tsugawa 1992, p. 46. Note: I replaced km/hr. (in the original sentence) by km/h.

  113. 113.

    Shladover, Steven E., and Advanced Vehicle Control Systems. 1990. SAE Technical Paper 901129, p. 108.

  114. 114.

    VanderWerf et al. 2004, p. 20 (p. 61 in pdf).

  115. 115.

    Tsugawa 1992, p. 46f.

  116. 116.

    Tsugawa, Sadayuki. 2005. Issues and recent trends in vehicle safety communication systems. IATSS Research 29 (1), p. 9.

  117. 117.

    VanderWerf et al. 2004, p. 17 (p. 58 in pdf).

  118. 118.

    Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Road Bureau, ITS Homepage, Archive, AHS (Advanced Cruise-Assist Highway System), online in: http://www.mlit.go.jp/road/ITS/1998HBook/chapter3/3-3e.html (accessed December 12, 2017).

  119. 119.

    E-mail from Sadayuki Tsugawa to the author, April 14, 2018.

  120. 120.

    The PWRI has several international agreements with the FHWA in the US and the Highways Agency in UK, exchanging regularly staff members (VanderWerf et al. 2004, p. 18 (p. 59 in pdf).

  121. 121.

    Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Road Bureau, ITS Homepage, Archive, AHS (Advanced Cruise-Assist Highway System), online in: http://www.mlit.go.jp/road/ITS/1998HBook/chapter3/3-3e.html (accessed December 12, 2017).

  122. 122.

    VanderWerf et al. 2004, p. 17 (p. 58 in pdf).

  123. 123.

    VanderWerf et al. 2004, p. 20 (p. 61 in pdf).

  124. 124.

    Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Road Bureau, ITS Homepage, Archive, ITS Handbook Japan 2008, AHS (Advanced Cruise-Assist Highway System), online in: http://www.mlit.go.jp/road/ITS/1998HBook/chapter3/3-3e.html (accessed December 12, 2017).

  125. 125.

    “Key Demo features included tests of vehicle control on roads involving lateral and longitudinal inclines, the relationship between in-vehicle devices and various external disturbances such as power lines and overpasses, adaptive cruise control, platoon formation driving, longitudinal control (speed and braking control), lane departure warning using magnetic lane markers embedded on the road, laser radar tracking control function for vehicle spacing in platoon operation, obstacle/roadway hazard detection using onboard laser radar, and incident detection and warning function using roadside sensors.” VanderWerf et al., p. 27 (p. 68 in pdf).

  126. 126.

    Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Road Bureau, ITS Homepage, Archive, ITS Handbook Japan 2008, AHS (Advanced Cruise-Assist Highway System), online in: http://www.mlit.go.jp/road/ITS/1998HBook/chapter3/3-3e.html (accessed December 12, 2017).

  127. 127.

    Tsugawa, Sadayuki. 2013. An Overview on an Automated Truck Platoon within the Energy ITS Project. 7th IFAC Symposium on Advances in Automotive Control, The International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC), September 4–7, 2013, p. 42. Tokyo, Japan.

  128. 128.

    Mail of Chuck Thorpe to the author, March 2, 2020.

  129. 129.

    Ibid.

  130. 130.

    Tsugawa, Sadayuki, Sabina Jeschke, and Steven E. Shladover. 2016. A Review of Truck Platooning Projects For Energy Savings. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Vehicles 1 (1): 68–77.

  131. 131.

    Tsugawa 2011, p. 5f.

  132. 132.

    Tsugawa 2008, p. 14.

    Car models added according to Tsugawa (E-mail from Sadayuki Tsugawa to the author, April 14, 2018).

  133. 133.

    VanderWerf et al. 2004, p. 17 (p. 58 in pdf).

  134. 134.

    Chatani, Yoshiyuki. 2008. Antennas for the Bullet Train. In Mobile Antenna Systems Handbook, ed. Kyohei Fujimoto, 3rd ed., 417. Boston, London.

  135. 135.

    Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Road Bureau, ITS Homepage, Archive, AHS (Advanced Cruise-Assist Highway System), online in: http://www.mlit.go.jp/road/ITS/1998HBook/chapter3/3-3e.html (accessed December 12, 2017).

    For a full list of all systems see Tsugawa, Sadayuki, Aoki, Masayoshi, Hosaka, Akio, Seki, Kaoru, A Survey of present IVHS activities in Japan. In 1996 IFAC, 13th Triennial World Congress, p. 7845f. San Francisco, USA.

  136. 136.

    VanderWerf et al. 2004, p. 18 (p. 59 in pdf).

  137. 137.

    Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Study Group for the Promotion of ASV, Seeking Even Greater Traffic Accident Reductions through Vehicle Advancements, October 2017, in: http://www.mlit.go.jp/jidosha/anzen/01asv/resourse/data/asv6pamphlet-e.pdf (accessed July 13, 2017).

  138. 138.

    VanderWerf et al. 2004, p. 19 (p. 60 in pdf).

  139. 139.

    Ibid.

  140. 140.

    Tsugawa 2005, p. 10.

  141. 141.

    Kato, S., et al. 2002. Vehicle Control Algorithms for Cooperative Driving with Automated Vehicles and Inter-vehicle Communications. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems 3 (3): 155–161.

  142. 142.

    Ohmine, Hiroyuki. 2008. Antennas for ITS. In Mobile Antenna Systems Handbook, ed. Kyohei Fujimoto, 429. Boston, London: Artech House.

  143. 143.

    Özgüner, Ümit, Tankut Acarman, and Keith Alan Redmill. 2011. Autonomous Ground Vehicles, p. 6. Boston/London.

  144. 144.

    Ibid.

  145. 145.

    Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Road Bureau, ITS Homepage, ITS Handbook Japan 2000, Section 4 ITS deployment progress in Japan, Toward practical use of the Smart Cruise System. http://www.mlit.go.jp/road/ITS/2000HBook/chapter4/4-19e.html (accessed December 12, 2017).

  146. 146.

    VanderWerf et al. 2004, p. 17 (p. 58 in pdf).

  147. 147.

    VanderWerf et al. 2004, p. 26 (p. 68 in pdf).

  148. 148.

    VanderWerf et al. 2004, p. 18 (p. 59 in pdf). According to this PATH-report, the ASV-demo included forward collision warning and avoidance, adaptive cruise control with brake control, side collision-, lane departure-, roadway condition- and drowsy driver warning systems, rear vehicle proximity monitoring and head-up displays (VanderWerf et al. 2004, p. 28 (p. 69 in pdf).

  149. 149.

    VanderWerf et al. 2004, p. 19 (p. 60 in pdf).

  150. 150.

    Interview of the author with Sadayuki Tsugawa, Tokyo, May 21, 2018.

  151. 151.

    Bommel, Nathan. 2015. Toyota testing self-driving cars ‘since the 1990s’. USA Today, October 6, 2015, in: https://eu.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2015/10/06/toyota-driverless-cars-automated-highway-driving/73448028/ (accessed July 13, 2019).

  152. 152.

    Mail of Chuck Thorpe to the author, March 2, 2020.

  153. 153.

    Ibid., p. 17.

  154. 154.

    Morris-Suzuki 1994, p. 162.

  155. 155.

    Lecler 1991, p. 151.

  156. 156.

    Ibid., p. 152.

  157. 157.

    Interview of the author with Sadayuki Tsugawa, Tokyo, May 21, 2018.

  158. 158.

    E-mail from Sadayuki Tsugawa to the author, April 14, 2018.

Bibliography

  • Anderson, Edward. 1996. Some Lessons from the History of Personal Rapid Transit (PRT), August 4, 1996. Conference Paper, online in: http://staff.washington.edu/jbs/itrans/history.htm. Accessed July 8, 2019.

  • Bloom, Justin L., and Shinsuke Asano. 1981. Tsukuba Science City: Japan Tries Planned Innovation. Science, New Series 212 (4500): 1239–1247.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bommel, Nathan. 2015. Toyota testing self-driving cars ‘since the 1990s’. USA Today, October 6, 2015. https://eu.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2015/10/06/toyota-driverless-cars-automated-highway-driving/73448028/. Accessed July 13, 2019.

  • Boyer, Robert, Elsie Charron, Ulrich Jürgens, and Steven Tolliday. 1998. Introduction: Between Imitation and Innovation: The Transfer and Hybridization of Productive Models in the International Automobile Industry. In Between Imitation and Innovation, The Transfer and Hybridization of Productive Models in the International Automobile Industry, ed. Robert Boyer, Elsie Charron, Ulrich Jürgens, and Steven Tolliday, 1–20. New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chalmers, Johnson. 1982. MITI and the Japanese Miracle: The Growth of Industrial Policy, 1925–1975. Stanford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chatani, Yoshiyuki. 2008. Antennas for the Bullet Train. In Mobile Antenna Systems Handbook, ed. Kyohei Fujimoto, 3rd ed., 417–425. Boston, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Committee on Japan (ed.). 1997. Maximizing U.S. Interests in science and technology relations with Japan, Committee on Japan framework statement and report of the competitiveness task force. Washington, D.C., online in: https://www.nap.edu/read/5850/chapter/1#iii. Accessed January 20, 2018.

  • Faure, Guy. 2007. Le METI et la science industrielle au Japon. In L’Empire de l’intelligence: Politiques scientifiques et technologiques du Japon depuis 1945, ed. Jean-François Sabouret. Paris, online in: http://books.openedition.org/editionscnrs/4945. Accessed on January 26, 2018.

  • Harayama, Yuko, and Laurent Genod. 2007. La politique scientifique et technologique au Japon: une perspective historique. In L’Empire de l’intelligence: Politiques scientifiques et technologiques du Japon depuis 1945, ed. Jean-François Sabouret, 23–49. Paris, online in: http://books.openedition.org/editionscnrs/4942. Accessed January 20, 2018.

  • Hirose, Takeshi. 1989. Position Prediction of Automobiles – White Line Detection (in Japanese). Proceedings of the 28th SICE Annual Conference 1: 23–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • 保坂明夫, 青木啓二, 津川定之, 自動運転(第2版):システム構成と要素技術, 森北出版 (Translation of the book title in English: Hosaka, Akio, Keiji Aoki, Sadayuki Tsugawa. 2019. Automated Driving, Systems and Technologies, 2nd ed. Tokyo: Morikita Publishing).

    Google Scholar 

  • Ijichi, Tomohiro. 2012. Innovation Policies and Reforms in Japan. In The Dynamics of Regional Innovation, Policy Challenges in Europe and Japan, Series on Innovation and Knowledge Management, ed. Yveline Lecler, Tetsuo Yoshimoto, and Takahiro Fujimoto, vol. 10, 41–71. Singapore.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ioannou, Petros A., ed. 1997. Automated Highway Systems. New York, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ishii, Takemochi, Masakazu Iguchi, and Masaki Koshi. 1976. CVS: Computer-Controlled Vehicle System, translated by Akira Yamashita. In Personal Rapid Transit III, ed. D.A. Gary, M.J. Gary, A.L. Kornhauser, and W.L. Garrard, 77–83. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, online in: http://staff.washington.edu/jbs/itrans/cvs%20prt%20paper%20with%20illustrations.pdf. Accessed July 7, 2019.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kato, S., et al. 2002. Vehicle Control Algorithms for Cooperative Driving with Automated Vehicles and Inter-vehicle Communications. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems 3 (3): 155–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lanson, Florian. 2010. Les Systèmes de Transport Intelligents au Japon, Rapport d’Étude, Ambassade de France au Japon, Service pour la Science et la Technologie.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lecler, Yveline. 1991. La dynamique du progrès scientifique et technique au Japon. In Gestion 2000, Management & Prospective, No. 4, August–September 1991, pp. 149–178.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lukács, Gabriella. 2010. Scripted Affects, Branded Selves: Television, Subjectivity, and Capitalism in 1990s. Japan, Durham and London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matsumoto, Shuntetsu. 1971. Highway Communication System Using Guidance Cable. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology VT-20 (1): 12–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Road Bureau, ITS Homepage, ITS Handbook Japan 2000, Section 4 ITS deployment progress in Japan, Toward practical use of the Smart Cruise System, 2000. http://www.mlit.go.jp/road/ITS/2000HBook/chapter4/4-19e.html. Accessed December 12, 2017.

  • Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Road Bureau, ITS Homepage, Comprehensive Plan for ITS in Japan, Chapter 1 Significance of Promoting ITS, 2008. http://www.mlit.go.jp/road/ITS/5Ministries/chap1.html. Accessed December 12, 2017.

  • Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Road Bureau, ITS Homepage, Archive, ITS Handbook Japan 2008, AHS (Advanced Cruise-Assist Highway System), 2008. http://www.mlit.go.jp/road/ITS/1998HBook/chapter3/3-3e.html. Accessed December 12, 2017.

  • Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Study Group for the Promotion of ASV, Seeking Even Greater Traffic Accident Reductions through Vehicle Advancements, October 2017. http://www.mlit.go.jp/jidosha/anzen/01asv/resourse/data/asv6pamphlet-e.pdf. Accessed July 13, 2017.

  • Morris-Suzuki, Tessa. 1994. The Technological Transformation of Japan: From the Seventeenth to the Twentieth-First Century. Cambridge/New York/Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nozaki, Taketoshi. 1976. Characteristics of an Automatic Automobile Steering System Using the Information of a Course Deviation at Some Distance Ahead of the Automobile (article in Japanese). Transactions of the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers 12 (6): 687–693, online in: https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/sicetr1965/12/6/12_6_687/_pdf/-char/ja. Accessed on June 27, 2019.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ohmine, Hiroyuki. 2008. Antennas for ITS. In Mobile Antenna Systems Handbook, ed. Kyohei Fujimoto, 427–457. Boston, London: Artech House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Okimoto, Daniel I., and Thomas P. Rohlen, eds. 1988. Inside the Japanese System: Readings on Contemporary Society and Political Economy. Stanford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oshima, Y., E. Kikuchi, M. Kimura, and S. Matsumoto. 1965. Control System for Automatic Automobile Driving. In Proceedings of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC), Tokyo Symposium on Systems Engineering for Control System Design, ed. Kankuro Kaneshige and Keisuke Izawa, 347–357.

    Google Scholar 

  • Özgüner, Ümit, Tankut Acarman, and Keith Alan Redmill. 2011. Autonomous Ground Vehicles. Boston, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rieu, Alain-Marc. 2007. Le Japon comme “société de connaissance”: quelles leçons pour la France?, Politiques de recherche, innovation et réformes institutionnelles depuis la crise de l’énergie des années 1970. In L’Empire de l’intelligence: Politiques scientifiques et technologiques du Japon depuis 1945, ed. Jean-François Sabouret, 185–216. Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roth, Joshua Hotaka. 2017. The Shared Road: Cars, Pedestrians and Bicyclists in Japan. In Cars, Automobility and Development in Asia: Wheels of Change, ed. Arve Hansen and Kenneth Bo Nielsen, 134–151. London/New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sabouret, Jean-François. 2007. Introduction, Japon: Le grand secret. In L’Empire de l’intelligence: Politiques scientifiques et technologiques du Japon depuis 1945, ed. Jean-François Sabouret, 9–21. Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saito, Mitsuo. 2000. The Japanese Economy. Singapore, New Jersey, London, Hong Kong.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, Jerry. 2014. Description of the Japanese Computer-Controlled Vehicle System (CVS) (derived largely from a report entitled Automated Guideway Transit: An Assessment of PRT and Other New Systems, U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, June 1975), November 11, 2014, online in: http://staff.washington.edu/jbs/itrans/cvs1.htm. Accessed July 7, 2019.

  • Sekine, Taro. 2015. The Image of Automobile Safety. In International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences, Interdisciplinary Wisdom of IATSS., 2015, online in: http://www.iatss.or.jp/common/pdf/en/publication/commemorative-publication/iatss40_theory_06.pdf, p. 62. Accessed November 9, 2017.

  • Shladover, Steven E., Advanced Vehicle Control Systems. 1990. SAE Technical Paper 901129: 103–112.

    Google Scholar 

  • Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Chapter 29, Disasters and Accidents, Road Traffic Accidents 1924–2005, online in: http://www.stat.go.jp/data/chouki/zuhyou/29-11.xls. Accessed November 9, 2017.

  • Taniguchi, M., et al. 1991. The Development of Autonomously Controlled Vehicle, PVS. Proceedings of the 1991 Vehicle Navigation and Information Systems Conference, pp. 1137–1141.

    Google Scholar 

  • Toffler, Alvin. 1980. The Third Wave. New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tombo, 日本で最初のテストコース 旧東村山自動車試験道路, July 2, 2009, in: http://blog.livedoor.jp/thetombo2/archives/51493535.html. Accessed December 3, 2017.

  • Tsugawa, Sadayuki, Teruo Yatabe, Takeshi Hirose, Shuntetsu Matsumoto. 1979. An Automobile with Artificial Intelligence. Proceedings of the 6th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 2, San Francisco, pp. 893–895.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsugawa, Sadayuki, Takeshi Hirose, and Teruo Yatabe. 1984. An Intelligent Vehicle with Obstacle Detection and Navigation Functions. Industrial Electronics Conference (IECON) 1: 303–308.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsugawa, Sadayuki. 1992. Concept of Super Smart Vehicle Systems and Their Relation to Advanced Vehicle Control Systems. Transportation Research Record 1358: 42–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2005. Issues and recent trends in vehicle safety communication systems. IATSS Research 29 (1): 7–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2008. A History of Automated Highway Systems in Japan and Future Issues, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. International Conference on Vehicular Electronics and Safety, Ohio, USA, September 22, 2008, p. 2–3.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2009. A Survey on Effects of ITS–related Systems and Technologies on Global Warming Prevention. In Proceedings of the 12th IFAC Symposium on Transportation Systems, Redondo Beach, USA, September 2–4, 2009, pp. 334–341.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2011. Automated Driving Systems: Common Grounds of Automobiles and Robots. International Journal of Humanoid Robotics 8 (1): 1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2013. An Overview on an Automated Truck Platoon within the Energy ITS Project. 7th IFAC Symposium on Advances in Automotive Control, The International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC), September 4–7, 2013, Tokyo, Japan, pp. 41–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsugawa, Sadayuki, Sabina Jeschke, and Steven E. Shladover. 2016. A Review of Truck Platooning Projects Foe Energy Savings. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Vehicles 1 (1): 68–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • VanderWerf, Joel, Steven Shladover, and Mark A. Miller 2004. Conceptual Development and Performance Assessment for the Deployment Staging of Advanced Vehicle Control and Safety Systems, California PATH Research Report UCB-ITS-PRR-2004-22, August 2004, online in: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3476/e3f1195402060c9398e95674f7c2c6d0fa49.pdf. Accessed on July 8, 2019.

  • Wootton, J.R., and A. García-Ortiz. 1995. Intelligent Transportation Systems. In Mathematical and Computer Modelling 22 (4–7): 259–268.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Kröger, F. (2024). History of the Research on Vehicle Automation in Japan. In: From Automated to Autonomous Driving . Archimedes, vol 70. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-49881-7_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-49881-7_3

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-49880-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-49881-7

  • eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics