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I N T E L L I G E N T T R A N S P O R T A T I O N S Y S T E M S By Alberto Broggi University of Pavia, Italy ITS for Rent broggi@ce.unipr.it Kayoko Hara, Nissan Motor Company The past decades have seen a lot of research on electric vehicles (EVs), because this kind of propulsion has a lower environmental impact than do traditional gasoline-based The concept of sharing elec- engines. Energy generated by large, highly efficient power plants is less expensive and tric vehicles (renting them for less polluting than that generated by many small, inefficient engines. one or several hours or a frac- Moreover, the advantages of small vehicles for urban driving, the typically short dis- tances driven by business vehicles in the urban environment, and-of course-the zero- tion of an hour) has been emission feature, has increased interest in EV car-rental services for short, in-town around for a while. Examples business trips. However, although EVs use high-performance batteries, they still require a wide- of previous EV trials include spread network of charging stations. But when their range of movement is limited to a the Praxitele in France, City specific area (as is usually the case for business trips), they become an interesting alter- native to private or public transportation. Car in Matini, Switzerland, In this installment of Intelligent Transportation Systems, Nissan's Kayoko Hara pre- and various station car projects sents an EV rental project undergoing testing and demonstration in Yokohama, Japan. For further information and to make suggestions for this department, please contact in the US. (Station cars are EVs me at broggi@ce.unipr.it, www.ce.unipr.it/broggi. that mass-transit riders drive to -Alberto Broggi and from transit stations.) The Daihatsu Motor Company, in conjunction with the Japan Electric Vehicle Associa- tion, also carried out a small-scale EV demonstration in Japan some 20 years ago. In recent years, Japanese corporations and researchers have conducted a succes- sion of demonstrations of shared small EVs. Leading the way was Honda's field trial of its Intelligent Community Vehicle System in 1998 at its Motegi recreational complex, which features a couple of racing circuits. Demonstrations in 1999 included * trial operation of the Toyota Crayon sys- tem of compact electric commuter cars, * an ITS/EV project that a group affili- ated with the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) organized at Yokohama and Inagi, a Tokyo suburb, * a commercial EV demonstration in Osaka, and * a trial of the Nissan Hypermini EV in Ebina, near Tokyo. More demonstrations are planned for Kyoto and other cities. Figure 1. The ITS/EV Yokohama project uses a fleet of Nissan Hypermini electric vehicles. This recent spate of Japanese EV proj- 84 IEEE INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS  GPS satellites Packet Electric vehicle commnications operations center network ects has two major causes. One is the development of compact, next-generation EVs for in-town use powered by high- performance batteries; the other is that sev- Cellular eral Japanese automakers have announced phone network various systems for sharing these new EVs. In this installment of Intelligent Trans- Leased portation Systems, I describe the ongoing lines ITS/EV Yokohama project, which is demon- strating an EV sharing system for business Communication use. The project's goal is to find real cus- control unit Internet tomers at the demonstration site and to Car navigation develop ways to minimize operating costs. system The sharing system The Yokohama project started in October 1999 with 30 EVs; it added 20 Nissan Hyperminis in January 2000. The Hyper- mini is a two-seat, 2.6-meter-long, lithium- Phone PC ion-battery-powered EV recently developed and marketed for inner-city use and sold to the general public (see Figure 1). The Asso- Figure 2. The electric vehicle sharing system being developed by the ITS/EV Yokohama project. ciation of Electronic Technology for Auto- mobile Traffic and Driving (JSK) is orga- tem judges that the vehicle's use is com- or they are likely to return the vehicle late. nizing the overall ITS/EV project, which pleted and transmits the vehicle's position In urban areas, securing sufficient space groups of participating companies are im- and other information to the operations for EV stations can be especially difficult. plementing. Concurrent with the Yokohama center. The center calculates the sharing fee Requiring large auxiliary facilities can pose project, JSK organized another EV-sharing on the basis of the length of use and mile- an obstacle to obtaining station sites. How- event, demonstrating the use of EVs as a age and sends that information for display ever, because these EVs have communica- second car in a residential area of Inagi. on the in-vehicle monitor. (Because no tions capabilities, no special facilities are The project's EV sharing system has sharing fee is being charged during the required for vehicle rental or return, except been developed largely by the Nissan demonstration, billing information is not for the battery-charging equipment at EV Motor Company and NEC. A mobile- displayed.) After exiting the EV, the user stations. communications network links the com- locks the doors with the fob. The system uses a data communications munications equipment in each EV to the network intended for ordinary cellular host computer at the operations center (see It pays to communicate phones. Anywhere data communications Figure 2). Users must register in advance During EV operation, the onboard navi- service is available, one operations center to use the system. Each user receives a gation system sends longitudinal and latitu- can provide centralized management of the modified keyless entry fob that stores his dinal information obtained from GPS satel- EV sharing system, even in remote regions. or her identification information, which it lites and information on the remaining can transmit to an EV. battery charge to the operations center at Taking it to the streets (and Users can reserve an EV by telephone or set intervals. Because EVs still have a short parking lots) at a Web site. At the reserved time, the user driving range and virtually no charging Yokohama's Minato Mirai 21 area-the goes to the EV sharing station and presses a ports are in place at present, people worry demonstration's location-is a former ship- button on the fob while standing in front of about running out of battery power en yard that is being redeveloped into a com- an EV. The onboard communications sys- route. So, the EVs in this demonstration mercial center with rows of high-rise build- tem receives a signal carrying the person's have a return advisory function. This fea- ings. Covering an area of approximately ID and relays it to the operations center. ture constantly monitors the remaining 10,000 square kilometers, MM21 is home to The center compares it with the reservation battery charge and the distance from the the offices and stores of 800 companies, hav- information and transmits sharing permis- present location to the vehicle return sta- ing a combined workforce of approximately sion to the vehicle. The vehicle then flashes tion, and warns drivers before they exceed 50,000 people. On weekends and holidays, its hazard warning lights and unlocks its the returnable range. sightseers throng the area. The cost of own- doors. The user enters the vehicle and starts The EVs also have a call button that lets ing a vehicle in MM21 is extremely high, it with the ignition key, stored in a holder in users make a voice call to an operator at the with parking places renting for more than the glove compartment. Upon returning the operations center. Users can easily obtain $500 a month. Moreover, to ensure ample vehicle to the sharing station, the user puts operator support in a variety of situations, visitor parking, building managers have the ignition key back in the holder. At that such as if they do not know how to operate moment, the onboard communications sys- something, the vehicle suffers some trouble, Continued inside back cover SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000 85  ITS, continued from p. 85 restricted the long-term rental of parking places. This has After being temporarily suspended at the end of March, caused insufficient parking for business-use vehicles. Yet 3,000 the demonstration resumed in late May and is scheduled to run company cars still operate in this area. through September. During this period, the project will imple- In urban areas such as this, replacing the numerous business ment measures to reduce operating costs, such as unmanned vehicles with public transportation is often impractical. Using operation of the operations center at certain business hours. clean, emission-free EVs that take up less space than conven- JSK intends to continue the demonstration with the goal of tional vehicles could greatly improve the urban environment. improving the system to a commercially feasible level by 2002. Business vehicles are generally driven relatively short distances Among other improvements, the project aims to enhance the in- within the city, so EVs, even with their limited driving range, vehicle equipment's reliability, reduce costs, and develop a could replace conventional cars for many trips. billing function. For participants, the Yokohama project recruited employees working in MM21 who normally use company cars in their work. They drive the EVs while carrying out their duties. A questionnaire survey was conducted among the participants in Kayoko Hara is a researcher at the Nissan Research Center's Vehicle February and March. The respondents Research Laboratory, where she studies methods to design customer- evaluated the overall system favorably, including its concept, oriented specifications. While at the laboratory, she previously devel- convenience, ease of vehicle and equipment operation, and ad- oped concepts for future city transportation systems. She received her ditional functions such as the return advisory. The results also bachelor's in social sciences from Chiba University. Contact her at the indicated that the need exists for such a system, if the rental fee Vehicle Research Laboratory, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., Natsushima-cho 1, Yokosuka-shi, Kanagawa 237-8523, Japan; k-hara@mail.nissan. is lower than the fee for an ordinary rental car or leased vehicle. co.jp. C A L L F O R P A P E R S IEEE Intelligent Systems seeks papers on St. Louis. Submissions due 12 Jan. 2001. City, Japan. Submissions due 20 March all aspects of artificial intelligence, focusing Contact Henry Prakken, Dept. of Com- 2001. Contact Ning Zhong, Dept. of Infor- on the development of the latest research puter Science, Utrecht Univ., PO Box mation Eng., Maebashi Inst. of Technol- into practical, fielded applications. Papers 80089, 3508 TB Utrecht, The Netherlands; ogy, 460-1, Kamisadori-Cho, Maebashi should range from 3,000 to 7,500 words, phone +31 20 2513791; henry@cs.uu.nl. City, 371-0816 Japan; phone and fax +81 including figures, which each count as 250 See www.cs.wustl.edu/icail2001. 27 265 7366; zhong@maebashi-it.ac.jp. words. Submit one double-spaced copy and See kis.maebashi-it.ac.jp/wi01. a cover letter or e-mail to Angela Williams, IEEE Intelligent Systems seeks papers for Manuscript Assistant, IEEE Intelligent Sys- a special issue on Semi-Sentient Robots: WI 2001 (in conjunction with the Second tems, 10662 Los Vaqueros Circle, PO Box Routes to Integrated Intelligence. Submis- Asia-Pacific Conf. Intelligent Agent 3014, Los Alamitos, CA 90720-1314; sions due 31 Jan. 2001. Contact Luís Technology), 23­26 Oct. 2001, Maebashi phone +1 714 821 8380; fax +1 714 821 Seabra Lopes, Dept. de Electrónica e Tele- City, Japan. Submissions due 20 March 4010; awilliams@computer.org. For au- comunicações, Univ. de Aveiro, P-3810 2001. Contact Yiyu Yao, Dept. of Com- thor guidelines, see http://computer.org/ Aveiro, Portugal; phone +351 234 370374; puter Science, Univ. of Regina, Regina, intelligent/author.htm. fax +351 234 381128; lsl@det.ua.pt. See SK, S4S 0A2 Canada; phone +1 306 585 http://computer.org/intelligent/cfp.htm. 5226; fax +1 306 585 4745; yyao@cs. iSAIRAS 2001, Sixth Int'l Symp. Artifi- uregina.ca. See kis.maebashi-it.ac.jp/wi01. cial Intelligence, Robotics, and Automa- EMMCVPR 2001, Third Int'l Workshop tion in Space, 18­21 June 2001. Ex- on Energy Minimization Methods in IEEE Transactions on Intelligent tended abstracts due Jan. 2001. Contact Computer Vision & Pattern Recogni- Transportation Systems seeks papers for Laura Hayter, HMCI, Ste. 801, 150 Queen tion, 3­5 Sept. 2001, Sophia Antipolis, publication. For guidelines, contact Elizabeth Dr., Ottawa, ON K2P 1E7, France. Submissions due 3 Feb. 2001. Chelsea C. White III, phone +1 734 764 Canada; phone +1 450 926 4663; hmci@ Contact Mario Figueiredo, mtf@lx.it.pt. 5723; ccwiii@umich.edu. To submit magmacom.com. See http://red.lx.it.pt/~emmcvpr. manuscripts, send five copies to Chelsea C. White III, Univ. of Michigan, Dept. of ICAIL 2001, Eighth Int'l Conf. Artificial IAT 2001, First Asia-Pacific Conf. Web Industrial and Operations Eng., Ann Intelligence and Law, 21­25 May 2001, Intelligence, 23­26 Oct. 2001, Maebashi Arbor, MI 48109-2117.