| Kozo Nakamura | Second Dept., Systems Research, Hitachi Research Laboratory, |
| Ichiro Hondo | Product Planning Div., |
| Nobuo Hataoka | Multimedia System Research Laboratory, Central Research Laboratory, |
| Shiro Horii | First Electronic Design Dept., Electronics Div., Automotive Products, |
For ITS (intelligent transport systems) car information systems, of which car navigation is a typical example, are demanded to process advanced multimedia information and communication functions for implementing various information services, such as providing traffic information by means of the VICS (vehicle information and communication system) service, providing tips about points of interests by means of Internet communication, distributing music and video data by means of digital broadcasting, emergency call service, and ETC (electronic toll collection) service. In response to those demands for ITS car information systems, Hitachi, Ltd. has taken up the challenge of developing, in addition to car navigation technology, technology for cooperation between car navigation and multimedia communication systems via Internet, technology for highly-reliable car computers, technology for highly-reliable ETC on-board equipment (OBE) in a vehicle environment, and human interface technology for in-vehicle use, such as voice recognition technology with excellent noise tolerance characteristics that enables use in noisy vehicles, etc.
ITS, Car Computer, ETC, Voice Recognition, Car Information System
