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HIROSHIMA, Japan—Mazda Motor Corporation
will commence public road trials of its advanced safety vehicle, Mazda ASV-4, in
the Hiroshima area on March 11, 2008. The trials are based on the Advanced
Safety Vehicle (ASV) Promotion Plan that was introduced by Japan’s Ministry of
Land, Infrastructure, and Transportation (MLIT) to promote the development,
practical application and wider use of ASV technologies aimed at reducing the
number of traffic accidents. During the ASV Project’s Phase Four trials, Mazda
will forge ahead with development of a safe driving support system that employs
vehicle-to-vehicle communications.
In collaboration with other ASV project members in the Hiroshima area*1,
Mazda will collect and analyze data to promote development of a safe driving
support system. The system deploys safety technologies which utilize
vehicle-to-vehicle communications to alert drivers of oncoming vehicles at blind
intersections or on twisting roads with limited visibility. By reducing driver
oversight or error, the system aims to mitigate two vehicle collisions at blind
intersections, rear-end collisions and accidents when a vehicle performs right
turns. Mazda plans to begin testing the two vehicle blind collision avoidance
system in fiscal year 2007. Road trials of the right-turn and rear-end collision
avoidance systems are set to commence in fiscal 2008.
The ASV project has been promoting the spread of safe driving to reduce
traffic accidents through advanced technologies for over fifteen years since its
inception by the MLIT in 1991. Mazda’s test results from Phase One to Phase
Three have already resulted in the successful development of various advanced
safety technologies. These include: a rear vehicle monitoring system that
detects vehicles approaching from behind at highway speeds; and Mazda’s Precrash
Safety System, which uses milliwave radar to monitor for oncoming obstacles,
then alerts the driver and automatically applies the brakes if necessary. The
Mazda ASV-4, part of the project’s fourth phase (2006 to 2010), will participate
in the effort to promote the spread of ASV technologies and develop and
implement a telecommunications-based safe driving support system to help reduce
traffic accidents.
In January 2008, Mazda began trials to validate a new Intelligent Transport
System (ITS)*2 as part of a consortium of local government, academia and
industry in the Hiroshima area. The ITS consists of safe driving support
technologies that link sensors installed along roadways to vehicles
(road-to-vehicle communications) in order to detect potentially dangerous
situations that the driver cannot see. By conducting the ASV public road trials
in the same area as the ITS experiments, Mazda intends to evaluate the
compatibility of the road-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-vehicle communication
systems.
Mazda is dedicated to leveraging these road trial results, and its own
research and development initiatives, to establish ITS and ASV technologies that
can assist in reducing the number of traffic accidents and decrease the
environmental burden caused by road traffic. Going forward, Mazda will continue
to develop and evolve safety technologies that are helping to promote a
sustainable transport environment for the future.
*1 Mitsubishi Motors Japan and Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd.
*2 A new
traffic system that uses advanced telecommunications technology to create an
information network between people, vehicles and the road infrastructure in
order to solve transportation problems such as road accidents, traffic jams and
damage to the environment.
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