Smart Car-to-Car Navigation Network in Japan

nomrniceguy writes "Japan now boasts some of the latest technology in zapping computerized data to millions of cars, delivering what may be the world's smartest way to drive. New navigation systems in Japan can quickly tell drivers which roads have traffic jams. A computerized FM radio broadcast system that collects and sends information from more than 28,000 infrared and radio-wave beacons installed along roads, they can also calculate how many seconds it would take to drive through virtually every block of the nation's cities and then find the fastest routes. In tests by the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, a Japanese research group, cars connect to other cars wirelessly to get information about a traffic accident or an approaching ambulance."

Small Problem...

[MattJakel]

Wouldn't mass adoption of this technology kind of destroy the point? If everyone was told the fastest route, eventually more traffic would come there until everything was at an equilibrium... but maybe that would be considered ideal by some...

Re:Malicious Worms

[Anonymous Coward]

or, you may be surprised and see it continue working as its supposed to do for years

Re:Small Problem...

[Anonymous Coward]

i think people who would regularly use the sytem eventually figure out how to "work" system to their own benefit.

Re:Japan

[Anonymous Coward]

Young people's coolness is judged by the level of technology they have, not some stupid shoes. When a girl asks for something, it isn't the latest hat, it is the latest handheld media player.

I take it you've never really lived in Japan. Or you only hung out with geeks.

Cool cell phones and tech items are cool, but cool shoes, clothes etc. are just as much, if not more of an issue in Japan. If you visit Japan and look around, you should notice that 99% of Japanese are better dressed than their American counterparts. You'd also notice that most of the girls carry Gucci, Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Bvlgari or Prada bags, purses, wallets etc. Same goes for sneakers, sandals and so on.

So while high-tech gadgets certainly hold a certain coolness factor amongst non-geeks, that doesn't mean that clothing items don't have value.

Re:Malicious Worms

[NevermindPhreak]

"They just need to use a more proprietary system."

what, like windows? :-P proprietary does not equal secure.

Re:Japan

[TheoMurpse]

while agreeing with most of your post, i disagree with your statement that girls always ask for the latest tech instead of hats...while no, i'm not aware of them wanting hats per se, i DO know that it sucks to be a boyfriend in this country, cuz your gf will be like "get me a gucci bag for xmas" "get me prada" "get me louis vuitton"

japan is one of the worlds largest importers of those brands, WAY ahead of the US i know and i would wager a guess as to one of the top 3 importers in the world

i have seen news segments in japan that showcase the problem where a guy buys his gf a 600,000 yen (6000 USD) handbag and she's like "no i don't like the color orange" so he has to exchange it for another...of course, he can't get a full refund, so he has to resell it to the same store he purchased it from, and i've seen that 6000USD one sell back for LITERALLY 1/2 price

so basically the guy drops 3000 USD for NOTHING

so yeah, tech is not everything...i see most college girls here wearing some old MD player (mp3 is not as popular), or just playing the music via their awesome cellphone (which is 10 years ahead of the US but costs 1 penny US currency with contract -- i have one of those), while carrying a many-hundred dollar handbag to class -_-;;;

i'm just glad my gf is not Japanese...i wouldn't be able to afford college..but then again many more japanese parents pay for their childrens' college than even parents in the US (which really surprised me) and then they live at home and commute to college (this is convenient as they have no room/board to pay) but inconvenient because they may commute 2 hours both ways (i know someone like this personally) to school

That's kind of cool..

[EvilStein]

But maybe something like traffic.com would be more efficient?

I think that it would be cool to have an LCD screen in the car with realtime information from something like traffic.com beamed in realtime.

Maybe piggyback on a Sirius satellite stream or something neat like that? ;)

Traffic in Japan can be a nightmare. when I lived there, I remember seeing LED billboard type signs above the highway with colors indicating the traffic patterns ahead.
Actually, I'm surprised that they haven't done the "get realtime data to your car via satellite" thing yet. Traffic & weather would be useful to have. At the very least, it's something to look at when you're stuck in traffic.

Re: Fashion in Japan

[QueenStupid]

How "good" their taste may be is a matter of opinion. What they are is innovative in style. They mix and match to seek an original and more individual style. And the Japanese aren't the only ones who experiment with style. It just seems like a lot of them have taken the idea to heart.

Contemporary clothing designs straight from the runway are also rather eccentric and may not seem like "good taste" the eyes of the general public either. But it is these new designs that allow fashion to evolve (you don't see petticoats still around...).

this would make the traffic worse

[menem]

In a city like Tokyo, this would make the traffic worse. When the cars move quickly, the road will support a very high auto density. When there is a traffic jam, the road will support a much lower density.

It used to be, that some of the side roads, due to not being known, would have heavy traffic, but not enough to cause a traffic jam. These side roads were near there maximum capacity. As soon as the side road ussge increeased, the road turns into a traffic jam, and the maximum capacity of the side roads decrease

Now, the total delays for the entire system are increased. Instead of helping, these navagition systems just create traffic jams on side roads that were never had a problem before.