After a 15-year wait, Mercedes-Benz drivers in Tokyo will now be able to avoid all too familiar traffic jams following the introduction of the Intelligent Traffic Guidance System, according to Daimler-Benz InterServices Japan Co. The company has apparently been researching and testing the product for the past 15 years and has joined forces with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police to operate the system which, for the first six months will only be available on Mercedes-Benz S-class cars. ITGS is said to utilize 14,000 sensors situated throughout the city and 200 cameras covering 900 junctions, monitored by the police. Data from the cameras and sensors is read by 19 computers and individually processed by ITGS for each user. It recommends routes to drivers, responding in real time to the current traffic situation, and also supplies information about the weather, train timetables, news reports and parking space availability. ITGSs operate via a central database that stores up-to-date traffic information via input networks and processing software. Debis Systemhaus, part of the Daimler-Benz group, developed the application software for the ITGS service center, a modular architecture, which it believes will meet current and future route management demands. Software can be installed on any route guidance device, requiring no hardware update. Daimler-Benz claims that ITGS is the World’s largest Route Guidance System and that it is unique to other systems across the world that rely on non-updatable information stored on CD-ROM. However, Milton Keynes, UK-based TrafficMaster Plc offers motorists in the UK a data picture or verbal message system that is updated every three minutes relaying traffic information about the country’s motorways and 460 miles of trunk roads. The ITGS will be introduced to the Mercedes-Benz E-class cars before it becomes widely available on other vehicles in Tokyo.
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