Skip to main content

Mazda develops system to avoid car-streetcar collisions

The University of Tokyo and Mazda Motor Corporation have jointly developed a system involving wireless communications technology to prevent collisions between cars and streetcars (or trams). The system’s car-mounted sensors can detect signals from a streetcar up to 100 metres away, in contrast with the current range of just a few dozen metres for conventional sensors on cars. The new system is designed to prevent collisions between vehicles and oncoming streetcars by allowing their position and direction
September 5, 2013 Read time: 1 min
The 5315 University of Tokyo and 1844 Mazda Motor Corporation have jointly developed a system involving wireless communications technology to prevent collisions between cars and streetcars (or trams).

The system’s car-mounted sensors can detect signals from a streetcar up to 100 metres away, in contrast with the current range of just a few dozen metres for conventional sensors on cars. The new system is designed to prevent collisions between vehicles and oncoming streetcars by allowing their position and direction to be automatically monitored, according to the university.

The experimental ASV-5 version of Mazda’s Atenza sedan will be deployed for trials in Hiroshima. Streetcars, which are used by around 150,000 people per day in Hiroshima, form an essential part of the city’s public transportation system.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Report highlights community impact of new mobility options
    March 29, 2018
    Local authorities and communities must understand the impacts of the new mobility options and regulate to get the transport systems they want, according to a new report. Colin Sowman takes a look. Outside of the big cities plagued with congestion, the existing transportation system(s) often cope adequately, and the ongoing workload (maintenance, safety…) is more than enough to keep local transport authorities busy. Is it, therefore, a good use of public service employees’ time to keep abreast of the raft
  • Elon Musk’s underground movement
    August 3, 2020
    The Boring Company is building tunnels under various US cities – but for what? Kristina Smith delves deep into a project which may (eventually) have real appeal for mass transit providers and transportation agencies
  • Bus gate access control system to combat congestion
    February 25, 2013
    One of a number of recent improvements and developments that have been carried out in Wellingborough town centre as part of Northamptonshire County Council’s Highways initiative is the installation of an access control gate system that gives public transport vehicles sole access to a designated town centre route during peak times. The council hopes that the system, which uses long-range vehicle identification technology to allow only buses and taxis to enter the specified route between the hours of 0900 to
  • UK university project paves the way for smarter cities and autonomous cars
    February 1, 2016
    The new i-Motors project, led by academics from the University of Nottingham’s Geospatial Institute and Human Factors Research Group and digital technology company Control F1, aims to build a mobile platform that allows vehicles of different manufacturers and origins to transfer and store data. The project, which has received a US$1.9 million award from the UK’s innovation agency Innovate UK sets out to establish a set of universal standards on how vehicles communicate with each other, and with other ma