VEHICLE INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEM (VICS) INFORMATION SERVICES VIA FM RADIO MULTIPLEX
Tetsuo Yamamoto, Masahiko Onosato, K. Ogiso · Intelligent Transportation: Realizing the Future. Abstracts of the Third World Congress on Intelligent Transport SystemsITS America · 1996
VICS (Vehicle Information and Communication System) began providing real-time road and traffic information to individual vehicles using three types of media (radio wave beacons, infrared beacons, and FM multiplex broadcasts) on April 23, 1996. The service areas are Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba, as well as Tomei and Meishin expressways. Information is provided as map display, simple graphic display and text. FM Radio Multiplex Broadcasting uses DARC (DAta Radio Channel) with a transmission capacity of 8 k bit/s, of which VICS uses 4 k bit/s. The information transmission cycle is five minutes in which the same data is sent two times for error correction. Information is provided on traffic congestion, journey time, accidents, construction work, traffic restriction and vacancies in parking lots. The In-vehicle units display this information in three modes. Level 1 is for text information only with about 30 Japanese characters. Level 2 is for graphic information with simple road maps and traffic congestion data, and the information can be output on a display. Level 3 is for traffic data navigation equipment that has a detailed road map using a CD-ROM and a GPS receiver. These services were phased in successively. Development of In-vehicle units is going rapidly and is now being put on the market. These services satisfy drivers needs. In the near future, the system will be upgraded and the information efforts will be evaluated in detail. The service area will also be expanded to encompass the entire country.