Personal Mobility

Dynamic message signs (DMS) are used to communicate accurate, timely, and pertinent
information to travelers on roadways. This information helps travelers avoid hazards or delays
and respond properly to changing roadway conditions. In an ideal environment, the state
transportation departments would be able to allocate DMS to various areas of the state based
upon changing needs. The location of each sign would be monitored, and the message could be
controlled and checked remotely.
Unfortunately, there are problems standing in the way of reaching this ideal situation. The
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet initiated a research project to identify and address these
problems. The research project included collecting an inventory of the DMS in the state,
reviewing policies of other states and organizations, and identifying needs and issues with regard
to management and use of the signs using a focus group session. All this information was used
to develop recommendations for ways to improve the management and use of the DMS.

University of Kentucky

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, April 29-May 2, 2002, Long Beach, California

Floating car- and loop detector-based methods are two different methods that are
most frequently employed to collect travel time delay information across a freeway network.
More often than not, these two methods are jointly used to achieve the necessary freeway
network coverage, because of either the high labor costs of the floating car-based method or the
dependence of the availability of sufficient freeway network instrumentation of the loop
detector-based method. For example, both floating car- and loop detector-based methods are
implemented in the Highway Congestion Monitoring Program in the California Department of
Transportation. This situation makes it necessary to evaluate the compatibility in terms of
estimation accuracy between these two different data collection methods. In this paper, the
compatibility between these two methods was empirically evaluated. Corresponding delay
information estimated using both methods from 37 freeway segments in the Greater Sacramento
Area were collected and analyzed. It was found that the loop detector-based method is able to
estimate very similar delay to that as estimated by the floating car-based method, as long as the
later is enhanced by the real time loop-detector measured traffic flow information. The average
difference is less than six percent (6%) when delay is defined using a reference speed of 60 mph
or higher. It was also found that a one-mile spacing of loop detectors and 15-minute floating car
interval were sufficient to achieve such compatibility. This research supported that loop
detector-based method might be a more cost-effective choice for travel time delay data
collection if the freeway system is sufficiently instrumented.

California Department of Transportation

Villanova University

Presented at the 12th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems, November 6-10, 2005, San Francisco, California

In recent years, road traffic environments, which enable further safe and comfortable
driving, have been needed to create through road maintenance and improvement with
consideration given to a variety of people and, consequently, there has been a rapid
increase of necessity to provide rest facilities on roads. On the other hand, for regional
improvements in each region, information provision and forums of people have been
required to provide, thus setting up “road stations” in each region. This research started
with the analysis of data on road stations throughout the nation and then that across the
whole Kinki Region. Furthermore, in order to perform analyses on regional characteristics,
for three stations located in North Hyogo Region as road station in a specific region,
analyses of users’ awareness of the road station were performed through a questionnaire
survey. According to results of these analyses, this research paper recommends the
desirable future of the road station. The functions of the road station include “function of
rest station” for road users, “function of information exchanges” for road users and local
residents, and “function of regional alliances” by which towns partner with each other to
create a vibrant region with the road station as a start.

Osaka Sangyo University

Presented at the 12th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems, November 6-10, 2005, San Francisco, California

Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) is a standard product for passenger cars that can be bought from many manufacturers. ACC works for speeds higher than 30 kph and only under restricted conditions. The first part of this paper describes our TrafficJam Assistant (TJA) that extends ACC  functionality to velocities from 0 to 30 kph including fully automaticstop and go using Laserscanner  data. Safe automatic start of the vehicle is possible even in complex situations,e.g. with pedestrians crossing the road. The second part describes the extension of the traffic jam assistant into an actual full-speed-range ACC system.

IBEO Automobile Sensor GmbH

Presented at the 12th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems, November 6-10, 2005, San Francisco, California

Walking is the most fundamental means of human transportation. Unlike travel by car, human
movement, either on foot or with the aid of a wheelchair, includes vertical movement, using
stairs or elevators, for example. Although there have been amazing developments in car and
outdoor navigation systems, such as EZ-Naviwalk, navigation inside buildings or between tall
buildings is less advanced. We therefore propose a new 3-D positioning system that is driven
primarily by dead reckoning with the support of RFID technology, which can provide realtime
indoor or outdoor position seamlessly. This enables point-to-point ubiquitous navigation
for humans even inside buildings or between tall buildings. In addition, this pedestrian navigation
system can take user’s preferences into account by changing the costs of the road network
link costs in various ways. Altitude differences along the route may be important. For
example, routes having stairs must be avoided by wheelchair-bound users. In addition, timedependent
routing must be considered for indoor navigation. A positioning track accumulation
system is also implemented so that tracks can be stored and their information reflected in
order to incorporate new roads or attributes in the future.

Sophia University

Presented at the 12th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems, November 6-10, 2005, San Francisco, California