Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC), Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (China) Co., Ltd. (TMEC)1, Beihang University and CenNavi Technologies Co., Ltd. have agreed to begin a joint verification testing project in which data from the Netstream2 traffic-flow simulator will be used in practical car-based applications to help alleviate traffic congestion in Beijing, China. The project will also receive support from the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport and is scheduled to commence in July.
In the verification tests, vehicles will be guided from congested expressways to uncongested expressways3 via an ETC device4 and a smartphone app. Users will be provided information about required driving times by route, and will also be notified of toll discounts for using uncongested expressways. With the goal of having the simulator used in city planning, the verification tests will serve to evaluate the simulator’s effect on traffic congestion and the data obtained during the tests will be used to improve its accuracy.
Since July 2011, the four organizations, in their efforts to alleviate traffic congestion, have been using the Netstream traffic-flow simulator in joint research into technologies to predict Beijing traffic conditions. The results from this research will be used in the verification tests to commence in July. TMC aims to be a good corporate citizen and plans to continue contributing to the ongoing growth of the Chinese market according to its founding philosophy of contributing to society through the manufacture of automobiles.
1TMC’s research and development center in China
2Developed by Toyota Central R&D Labs., Inc.
3Scheduled to be implemented on the Jingping and Jingcheng Expressways that connect Beijing Capital International Airport and Beijing 4Newly developed terminal that integrates a portable navigation device (PND) and an on-board electronic toll collection (ETC) device
