Japan has some of the most congested, confusing and cramped streets in the world. It also boasts what may be the world's smartest way to drive.

　　Car navigation systems in Japan can quickly tell drivers which roads have traffic jams. Using a computerized FM radio broadcast system that collects and sends information from more than 28,000 infrared and radio-wave beacons installed along roads, they can also calculate how many seconds it would take to drive through almost every block of the nation's cities and then find the fastest routes.

　　Yet only about a million vehicles - of the 70 million in Japan - take advantage of it.

　　That's because the most commonly sold navigation systems in Japan give drivers a fraction of available information.

　　Equipment offered at dealers is low-grade, and top-of-the-line navigation systems aren't advertised much in Japan.

　　The better models are also expensive: Equipment costs 100,000 yen (US$950) to 200,000 yen and the ability to get more timely information adds another 25,000 yen.

　　"I'm waiting for our company to put one in," said Tokyo cab driver Keizo Iida, who has no navigation machine.

　　Another hurdle: Japan Highway Public Corp, the nonprofit organization that oversees the nation's highways and transport systems, has long been criticized as corrupt and wasteful. The administration is trying to privatize it to make operations more transparent and efficient.

　　Japan isn't the only country where the adoption of smart transport is taking the slow road.

　　Electronic toll booths, roads embedded with computer chips and "intelligent" cars don't involve much cutting-edge technology, but knitting the systems together is complicated. Huge obstacles remain before governments, companies and the public can agree on standards, methods and costs to make smart travel work.

　　"To have the whole system, everybody has to agree on how to do it, what kind of technology you're going to use, what kind of standards you're going to use, and who's going to pay for it," said Gabriel Sanchez, a director at Intelligent Transportation Society of America.

　　(The Associated Press)