It's a sunny morning in the spring of 2013. As you ride a commuter train, an information panel on the wall announces a 30-minute delay caused by an accident. With your cellular phone, you search for an alternative route and make a reservation to get to your destination.
At the next station, you leave the train and hop into an electric car you ordered through a car-sharing service. As you pass a tollgate and enter a traffic-controlled lane, the fare is automatically charged to your IC card via an on-board device. The air around you is cool and clean. This is not science fiction, but rather a glimpse of transportation systems that government officials and other experts believe are just around the corner.
Information technology is the key to making it all happen, and a series of experiments are now under way to make the dream reality within just a few decades.