Mazda Participates in ’ITS-Safety 2010’ Combined Trials

HIROSHIMA, Japan — Mazda Motor Corporation has announced it will participate in the “ITS-Safety 2010” combined tests of automotive Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)* in Japan. Mazda will provide Mazda MPV and Mazda Atenza (known as the Mazda6 overseas) vehicles – equipped with advanced safe driving systems it has developed – for use in public demonstration events to be held from February 25 to 28, 2009, in Odaiba, Tokyo’s new waterfront subcenter district. The ITS-Safety 2010 testing is being conducted by the “ITS Promotion Council,” a joint committee formed of public and private sector organizations in Japan to advance large-scale testing of safety technologies.

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.

Mazda committed to making more eco-friendly and safer vehicles as one of the major elements of its March 2007 long-term vision for technology development, Sustainable Zoom-Zoom. Through the development of driver awareness technologies as part of its involvement in ITS initiatives, the company is striving to build fun-to-drive vehicles with abundant safety technologies that will share a sustainable traffic infrastructure with pedestrians, bicycles, and all other road users.

* ITS is a new transport system which is comprised of an advanced information and telecommunications network for users, roads and vehicles. ITS contributes toward solving transportation problems such as traffic accidents and vehicle congestion.