Innovative practical projects with the aid of traffic simulation in Japan

Simulation programs have already been widely utilized especially for scientific purposes. Recently, they have become quite essential tools for the practitioners and planners involved in traffic and transportation projects. The aim of this paper is to initially describe and introduce some of the major practical projects, which have been carried out in Japan with the aid of an advanced traffic simulation program. Since Automated Highway System (AHS) is one the most important and motivating projects, therefore, this paper addresses its focus and attention on the AHS project as well as electronic toll collection (ETC), which have been performed by implementation of the simulation program.