—Hitachi's ASP Service for Truck Fleet Management—
| Naohiko Gommori | Logistics Systems Dept., Industrial & Logistics Systems Div., Total Solutions Div., |
| Tetsuya Nitta | Logistics Systems Dept., Industrial & Logistics Systems Div., Total Solutions Div., |
| Tatsuo Yoshioka | Public & Social Systems Div., Total Solutions Div., |
| Akio Ito | ITS Center, Public & Social Systems Div., Total Solutions Div., |
| Takumi Fushiki | Telematics Service Unit, Second Dept., Systems Research, Hitachi Research Lab., |
| Hiroyuki Nakagawa | Tokyo Distribution Systems Dept., Industrial & Distribution Systems Service Operation Div., |
In Japan, telematics information systems for commercial vehicles have yet to be introduced on a large scale due to the high costs associated with mobile communications and the installation of telematics equipment. As a result, little progress has been made beyond the stage of navigation systems that drivers are already familiar with. However, the recent explosive growth of the Internet and cell phone networks has led to a reduction in the cost of mobile terminals and telecommunication charges. It is therefore expected that there will soon be a rapid growth in telematics information services adapted to commercial vehicles (B2B: business to business) using inexpensive high-quality communication technology. Meanwhile, in geographically extensive countries such as the United States, it is harder to reduce the telecommunication costs because some regions are only accessible by satellite communication. As a result, the telematics information systems that have been set up so far have only been able to offer partial services, such as managing the movements of truck fleets. At Hitachi, we have focused our attention on Japan's domestic transportation vehicles, of which there are over 1 million. In April 2001 we inaugurated a truck fleet management ASP (application service provider) service, which includes functions that help transportation companies. A characteristic of this system is that the initial investment needed to set it up is reduced by sharing resources such as servers, networks and software.
 | e-trasus (Japanese Only) |
| The Hitachi Hyoron (Japanese Only) |
telematics, logistics, floating car, insurance company, safe driving
