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In Japan, autonomous navigation systems are coming into wide use. However, UTMS (Universal Traffic Management System) research and development activities for communication between the infrastructure and the automobiles is being advanced by UTMS Japan (Universal Traffic Management Society of Japan) under the guidance of the National Police Agency. These activities are very much anticipated by the public. Toyota Motor Corporation and Sumitomo Electric Industries, LTD. approve of the activities and have jointly developed a simple in-vehicle navigation display system. The effectiveness of this system was demonstrated at the UTMS demonstration and test drive in cooperation with the Kanagawa Prefectural Police Headquarters on July 19, 1994 in Yokohama. The aim of this system is to realize, at low cost, a system for providing traffic information that drivers can easily read and understand while driving.

This paper describes a navigation System for private automobiles. This system shows the accurate position of the vehicle on a CRT map display and also displays useful Information such as the locations of hotels, golf clubs, etc. A sophisticated map matching method is employed to find the vehicle's position. In this method, a set of correlation coefficients between the locus and the mapped roads is used to determine the vehicle's location statistically. A unique automatic calibration function is also added to the magnetic field sensor to compensate for malfunctioning and detection errors caused by distortion due to the earth's magnetism and to magnetization of the vehicle at points of high field density such as railroad crossings. In this system, we can see the current position of the vehicle indicated by a pointer on the smooth scrolling map display.