Communication equipment evaluation and functional field tests for AHS

Automated highway system (AHS) is designed to offer vehicle control assistance by conducting continuous data transmission from roadside instrumentation to vehicles, and the eventual aim is to achieve fully automated vehicle operation. Aggressive research focusing on AHS is a major program of the intelligent transport system project. A test operation system was constructed and installed along the 3 km test field in the Public Work Research Institute (PWRI) of the Ministry of Construction. The road incident detection and warning system and function performance tests were commenced on AHS in November 1995. This paper outlines the test operation system constructed in PWRI, examines the communication related function test and operational evaluation, and reports the subsequent results. Finally, the operational function evaluation plan on a section of the Joshinetsu expressway is discussed.