Auto Transportation

Posts Tagged ‘Government’

In its continuous efforts to promote improved road safety, Mazda Motor Corporation has recently announced its plans to participate in public road trials in the Hiroshima area to help validate a new Intelligent Transport System (ITS) scheduled to start in fall 2007.

Intelligent Transport Systems use the latest in high-tech telecommunications to create an information network encompassing people, roads and vehicles, the goal of which is to work toward solutions for transport problems including road accidents, congestion and damage to the environment.

To help validate these tests Mazda, maker of top of the line Mazda timing belt, is set to develop an in-car navigation system that supports the ITS as well as supply several dozen test vehicles from which data will be collected and analyzed. The automaker is also developing a safe driving support system – reportedly an arrangement of cameras and sensors placed along roads that will transmit information to drivers – to be compatible with the ITS infrastructure.

The Hiroshima area has many road environments that make it conducive for a wide range of test conditions for the verification trials, including numerous bridges over the many rivers (including those which have dangerous blind summits); roads that accommodate both trams and motor vehicles, which have complicated traffic dynamics; and lowlands and mountain regions situated close together, which can create unexpected variations in weather and road surface conditions.

The equipment to be tested includes:

A system to identify the extent of road congestion.
A warning system to prevent speeding.
A system to prevent rear-end collisions at traffic signals.
A head-on collision prevention support system.
A right-turn collision prevention support system (identifies approaching trams, oncoming traffic and pedestrians crossing the street).
An in-transit information system.

The safe driving support system technology that will be tested collects information from the ITS infrastructure and from vehicles (vehicle condition, driver operation) to monitor local traffic flows and individual driver responses. The information collected will then be used to identify potentially dangerous situations and determine whether a warning or an alarm should be triggered. This is a breakthrough in terms of functionality compared to previous ITS systems that merely provided information to drivers.

Mazda aims to use the trials to establish usable ITS technologies which can be introduced in the near future to reduce the number of traffic accidents and lessen the impact of transportation on the environment.

Along with Mazda, are Hiroshima’s local government, academia and industry which all will take part in the public road tests as part of a consortium formed during last year’s Hiroshima Conference on ITS Validation on Public Roads.

The US economy and the resulting weakness of the dollar looks like it may well contribute to the price of crude oil continuing to rise as investors have been holding the commodity instead of dollars. This means that as the cost of a barrel of crude oil comes close to the 100 dollar figure then so fuel prices have also continued to rise.

So do higher fuel costs mean we are likely to buy or use cars, vans and Lorries less in 2008? Well seemingly not based on a latest poll of motorists. Despite fuel prices increasing at alarming rates a whopping 79 percent of motorists questioned said they had not changed their petrol and fuel buying habits and had no plans to do so. In fact the motorists questioned said petrol prices would have to increase at even more alarming rates to stop them from filling up.

Environmental issues would it seem not be as important as governments throughout the world as over 1 in 3 motorists confirmed they had no plans to replace their vehicles for more environmentally friendly cars before 2010.

And so if motorists are seemingly unaffected by rising fuel costs and are prepared to continue driving despite increased road tax and the impact on the environment surely positive times are ahead for the industry in 2008?

Well before car manufacturers and dealers start doing cartwheels, caution would certainly be advised as whilst General Motors can seen promising performance in emerging markets they have seen big losses in both American and European markets.

And with the world economy in such an uncertain state as 2007 draws to a close 2008 could well see new car sales fall with used car sales increasing. Car sales and indeed sales of all types are also likely to increase via the internet in 2008 so car dealers (new and used) without an internet presence should really be looking at establishing themselves in this emerging marketplace.

And what of the actual motorist, what does 2008 have in store for us? Well how about further increases in vehicle tax, more toll roads, increased congestion charges and still a seeming lack of a viable alternative to road use through reliable, clean and safe public transport.

The good news for some motorists on one front is that whilst the government is seemingly do all they can to penalise the motorist, insurance premiums including car insurance, van insurance and motor trade insurance are pretty stable. In fact with such competition in the insurance industry the cost of insurance like combined motor trade insurance could even fall and savings could be made.

And motor traders who are looking to make savings on their motor trade insurance premiums in 2008 using a specialist motor trade insurance broker could well be the route to take to make sure they get the protection they need at a price that is right.

2008 promises to be an exciting time for all involved in the automotive industry so put your seat belts on, buckle up and enjoy the ride.