...and Toyota joins in

Today Toyota announced its participation in the "ITS-Safety 2010" trials. Earlier this week Mazda also announced they would participate:

"Toyota will use seven vehicles to demonstrate road-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-vehicle information-exchange technologies. Five units of the Lexus "LS460" will be used to demonstrate such technologies on roads in the Odaiba urban development area on the Tokyo waterfront and on the expressway servicing it, while one Lexus LS460 and a Toyota "Crown Hybrid" will demonstrate Radar Cruise Control with All-speed Tracking and Intelligent Parking Assist (with parking-space recognition) next to the area's National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation."

Read more about Toyota's cooperative safety research on their ITS website

Big In Japan

Mazda will be participating in a Japanese ITS tests, "ITS-Safety 2010", according to a press release Tuesday. The trials will test safety-related ITS technologies; Mazda will be contributing equipped Atenza's and MPV's.

From the press release:

"The ITS trials will verify the effectiveness of advanced automotive intelligent technology systems that have been jointly developed through public and private sector cooperation. This involves setting up the necessary apparatus on public roads, verifying the ITS technologies’ interoperability among different automakers and the system’s applicability to real-world driving use. The project’s overall aim is to make Japanese roads the safest in the world.

Mazda has been involved in ITS validation trials on public roads in the Hiroshima region since 2006. Its role, as a member of the consortium of regional government, academic and industry organizations that is sponsoring the local ITS trials, has been to develop on-board navigation systems to support ITS technology. To date, Mazda has equipped approximately 50 vehicles driven by consortium partners and members of the public with ITS-related safety systems. The data collected from these vehicles is being used to analyze unique characteristics of the local traffic infrastructure, such as large arched bridges with poor forward visibility or bridges that are shared by vehicles and streetcars."

For more info on Mazda's work with ITS check out their website.