TOKYO >> Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. plans to commercialize a new technology that can instantly analyze data from tens of millions of vehicles, perhaps as early as the end of fiscal 2023.

By combining data on road conditions transmitted by cars connected to the technology, information on road safety and traffic congestion will be produced quickly and accurately.

The technology is expected be the foundation for fully automated driving systems, and NTT is considering marketing it internationally to make it a global standard.

A data processing method developed and patented by NTT has made it possible to instantly retrieve specific information, such as locations and times of day, from the vast amount of data sent from moving vehicles.

For example, after identifying the location of an obstacle on a road, captured in an image from a car’s onboard camera, the technology can quickly relay the information to vehicles approaching the location.

Current technology takes about 20 seconds to notify drivers of a problem on the road; NTT’s new technology takes just 5 seconds, helping drivers avoid problematic roads and preventing accidents.

The new technology can also monitor traffic congestion lane by lane and is expected to help predict traffic congestion in detail; it can also suggest fuel-efficient alternative driving routes.

Through experiments with Toyota, NTT has confirmed that its system can stably process data even when more than 30 million vehicles are connected.

According to the Automobile Inspection and Registration Information Association, as of September 2022, there were about 62 million vehicles in Japan, not including trucks and buses.

The company is close to presenting the new system for commercial use, and it’s possible Japan’s automakers could adopt car navigation systems and other services based on the technology by the end of fiscal 2023.