Initiatives for Vehicle Probe Data and Disaster Prevention Information for a Mobility Society

Abstract

On March 11, 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake struck. This was truly an unprecedented disaster, and the author and his colleagues were involved in the development of a communication-type car navigation system started in 2003. The probe data from this system is used to generate information on road traffic in the area affected by the earthquake, which is extremely important for lifelines. The morning after the earthquake, this information was released to the public. The information was used to support the relief efforts of people heading to the affected areas. On the other hand, as disasters have become more frequent in recent years, current disaster information has been mainly provided at the municipal level. This causes a lack of disaster prevention information that is useful for people to travel to their destinations. In this paper, we will discuss practical applications of disaster prevention and disaster mitigation information using mobility data, and how these can be used in the era of automated driving and in the future. We will also report our efforts to look at smart cities.