A Cooperative Driving Support System Based on ITS On-Board Unit

This paper describes a practical vehicle-infrastructure cooperative driving support system that uses an expanded platform of the commonly-used ITS on-board unit. The authors evaluated the feasibility of the Tochigi DSSS (Driving Safety Support Systems) during field test operations of DSSS for right/left turning at intersections on public roads in Tochigi, Japan. The system includes a dedicated short-range communication (DSRC) on-board unit and a car navigation system. The authors note that it is difficult to evaluate the proposed systems in the real world because of the cost and safety concerns. To address this problem, they developed a simulation environment for DSSS which integrates a real-time microscopic road traffic simulator. The DSSS application can provide multiple services by creating more than one logical communication areas in a single DSRC communication area and can filter out some unnecessary messages by using a lane number system, in cooperation with infrared beacon. The authors conclude that it is possible to build a practical cooperative driving support system by expanding the common platform already present in the ITS on-board unit.