In the process of industrialization and urbanization, industrialized countries are facing increasingly serious problems of resource shortage and environmental degradation, and developing countries also have such problems. Since 1950s, the problem of survival and development has become the most urgent task facing human society. 1972 The United Nations Conference on Human Environment adopted the Declaration on Human Environment. An inevitable result of the development of urbanization productivity, according to the law of world economic development, when the level of urbanization reaches more than 30%, there will be a stage of rapid economic development. The urbanization level of developed countries such as America, Japan and Britain 1990 reached 75%, 77% and 89% respectively. In view of the impact of transportation development on resources and environment, these countries have gradually adjusted their transportation systems and structures. In order to meet the needs of vehicle development, these countries have made great efforts to develop and build transportation infrastructure (for example, the 70,000-kilometer expressway plan planned by the United States in 1944 was basically completed in 50 years, but it still caused congestion and congestion). While a lot of land, fuel and other resources are occupied and consumed, not only the traffic demand can not be fully met, but also the automobile exhaust emissions increase sharply due to road congestion, which not only causes huge economic losses, but also brings bad effects to the environment.

Since the 1960s and 1970s, due to the oil crisis and environmental deterioration, industrialized countries began to adopt transportation system management (TSM) and transportation demand management (TDM) aiming at improving efficiency and saving energy, and at the same time, vigorously developed large-capacity railways and implemented the policy of giving priority to transportation, adjusted the transportation structure under the goal of social sustainable development, and established a transportation system that optimized energy utilization and environmental protection. As a new generation of transportation system, ITS comprehensively solves the traffic problems, ensures the sustainable development of social economy and coordinates with the environment. With the rapid development of information technology, ITS has been bred and developed in developed countries, and has become an important development trend in the world since 1990s. Scientific and modern traffic management has always been the goal of comprehensive management and solving traffic problems. The early traffic signal control system used electronics, sensing and transmission technologies to realize scientific management. With the development of science and technology, especially the popularization and application of computer technology, GPS, information communication, traffic monitoring system, traffic guidance system and information collection system have played a great role in traffic management, but these technologies are only aimed at the scientific management of vehicles or roads.

Since the end of the World Cold War in the late 1980s, high-tech technologies such as satellite navigation systems, information collection and provision systems, computer control and management systems, electronics and electronic communication technologies used in the military and national defense fields in industrialized countries have turned to civilian use, and most military investments have also turned to the development and application of civilian technologies. At the same time, the vast number of developing countries, including China, have accelerated their economic development with the help of a peaceful and stable international environment. The rapid economic development of developing countries has promoted great changes in industrial structure around the world. The traditional industrial fields in industrialized countries have lost their obvious competitive advantages because of the concentration of labor-intensive industries in developing countries, and have begun to brew and develop industrial markets with high-tech content. In this international environment, it represents the arrival of an information revolution, which has aroused great concern all over the world. This is the rapid development of information technology on the information highway. In particular, the establishment of the international information network internet has accelerated the process of global economic integration. Since 1994, the world economy has gradually entered the stage of information revolution.

The information industry came into being. Guided by information technology, ITS integrates other related technologies into intelligent transportation management, which has a broad market. Industrialized countries and private enterprises have invested in this new industry. The US government began to invest in the development and research of ITS in 199 1, and the investment budget of the US Highway Safety Administration in 1993 alone reached $ 2065438+ million. 19 European countries invested $5 billion in the eureka project.