Solutions for urban traffic issues by ITS technologies

In recent years, traffic congestion, traffic accidents, and deterioration of the environment because of growing population, increasing urbanization, and increasing car ownership have become serious problems in the Asia-Pacific regions. Intelligent transport systems (ITS) are systems that try to solve various road traffic issues using information communication technologies. Several countries are endeavoring to solve such traffic issues by deploying an ITS and achieving positive results. However, there are some problems in advancing ITS deployment in these countries, such as lack of technical know-how, a lack of coordination among systems, lack of a master plan, and financial constraints. In order to introduce ITSs, it is important to select suitable technologies and applications appropriate for each country. An appropriate plan and evaluation of the ITS project are also important for the introduction of ITS. In this paper, we propose methods for the utilization and introduction of ITS technologies to solve urban traffic issues in various countries, based on the lessons learned from the deployment of an ITS in Japan. •A basic ITS platform utilizing smartphones and DSRC is useful for solving urban traffic problems.•Benefits to society, roads, and drivers is important for the nationwide deployment of ITS.•By utilizing ITS, not only TDM but also MaaS is realized.•PPP utilizing ETC is useful for developing expressway networks.•By having not only ETC but also a probe data collection function, low-cost ITS deployment is possible.