Japan's Intelligent Transportation Systems, based on Internet data transmission, may become the global norm.

Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry officials say they expect the new technology to be adopted by the international community as the global standard.

The International Organization for Standardization has asked METI to help formulate the global standard for this technology, the officials said.

Internet-based ITS refers to technology in which information is sent to drivers via the Internet.

Japan's ITS technology is based on the advanced Internet Protocol version 6 technology.

The ministry, Toyota Motor Corp., NEC Corp. and Keio University professor Jun Murai cooperated to develop the system.

In the tests in the cities of Kawasaki and Nagoya, information was exchanged between moving vehicles and computer centers. Drivers used ITS monitors in their cars to pay for goods and services.

The ITS market is expected to soar to 20 trillion yen yearly worldwide.

The government hopes Japanese companies will play leadership roles in tapping the new market, a METI official said.

The ministry plans to set up a new entity by fall for making the Japanese ITS technology the global standard.

Current ITS varieties use a wide range of telecom means. Drivers use mobile phones, personal handy phone systems, or wireless local area networks for transmission of information to Internet-linked monitors in cars.

In addition, various automakers provide a wide range of information to their customers through different ITS equipment.

Proponents of ITS technology have called for standardizing these telecom means and ITS equipment, so drivers won't have to equip their cars with a number of different gadgets and ITS systems.