Intelligent Transport System (ITS) is intended to offer solutions to traffic accidents, congestion and other road transportation problems by using the latest information and communication technology to connect drivers, roads and vehicles through a data network. Spearheaded by the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the National Police Agency, the industry, academia and government are conducting various research and development activities to make this system a reality.
Mazda actively participates in many of these projects as it seeks to achieve a sustainable future for traffic environments. ITS-supporting onboard navigation systems and improved HMIs for navigation system information delivery are the ITS technologies Mazda is endeavoring to develop and improve.
Mazda is a proud participant in ITS-Safety 2010. Sponsored by the ITS Promotion Committee, ITS-Safety 2010 is a joint program to test-drive Intelligent Transport System (ITS) technology to support safe driving. At a public demonstration in February 2009 at Odaiba, Tokyo, two Mazda vehicles, the MPV and Mazda6, were shown to the public. Each vehicle was fitted with advanced safe driving support systems developed by Mazda.
With the goal of building the world's safest traffic society, the testing was part of a major public-private partnership to prepare the way for commercialization of ITS technologies currently under development by 2010. The rigorous tests checked for consistency in the infrastructure technology installed along public roads, the ability of ITS systems built by different manufacturers to communicate with each other, and the overall effectiveness of the system itself. The ITS-Safety 2010 tests were a vital step toward full-scale commercialization of ITS systems.
