As road traffic safety challenges intensify worldwide — including frequent nighttime accidents, difficulties in sign recognition under adverse weather conditions, declining visual acuity among aging drivers, and the rapid advancement of autonomous driving and smart transportation systems — traditional retroreflective traffic sign systems are increasingly unable to meet the demands of future road safety and intelligent transportation development.
Active-Illumination Traffic Signs, as a new generation of road safety infrastructure integrating optics, power electronics, traffic engineering, and intelligent control technology, have been widely deployed across China in recent years — on expressways, urban roads, school zones, hazardous road sections, and other special traffic environments — establishing a mature foundation of engineering practice. China’s scale of deployment and technical advancement in this field has reached a leading position internationally.
Mr. Liu Gan, as the principal leader of Active-Illumination Traffic Sign product development and applied research in China, has devoted himself to this field for many years. He has participated in and completed the development of multiple technical standards, authored several technical monographs, published numerous academic papers, obtained multiple invention patents, and promoted large-scale road engineering applications — continuously driving and sustaining China’s international leadership in this technology and its application.
Nevertheless, this field still lacks a systematic international engineering and technical framework. There is currently no authoritative international publication, no unified terminology and definition system, and no standardization research output with meaningful international influence. It is therefore necessary to bring together universities, research institutions, engineering teams, and technical professionals from China’s road traffic engineering sector to jointly carry out the international publication and technical system development work for this project.
The overall approach of this project is:
Systematic consolidation and technical framework development → International publication → International dissemination and application → Advancement toward ISO international standardization research
This will provide the global road safety and future smart transportation community with important technical contributions grounded in China’s original engineering practice, generating lasting international influence.
I. Project Initiators and Organizing Bodies
This project is jointly initiated and supported by I-ROAD Technology Company, incorporated in Boston, USA, and its imprint Innovation Era Press.
I-ROAD Technology Company is dedicated to the research and development, engineering application, and international promotion of Active-Illumination Traffic Signs. Innovation Era Press is responsible for international publishing, distribution, and the development of global dissemination channels. Publications will be registered under the international ISBN system and the US Library of Congress LCCN system, and distributed globally through IngramSpark, Amazon, and other international platforms.
The editorial outline for this project is provided in the attached appendix.
II. Project Objectives
This project aims to produce the following systematic outputs:
In terms of publications, the project plans to publish editions in Chinese, English, and Spanish, with French, Japanese, and other language versions to follow, forming a multilingual engineering and technical reference for a global readership.
In terms of technical framework, the project will focus on building a technical definitions and terminology system, a product classification system, an engineering application system, a testing and verification system, an engineering case study system, and a framework addressing intelligent transportation and future development directions.
In terms of dissemination channels, project outputs will be introduced into the international ISBN publishing system, the US Library of Congress LCCN system, the IngramSpark international distribution network, Amazon and other international e-commerce platforms, and international library and academic database systems.
In terms of standardization, building on engineering practice and international dissemination, the project will progressively advance research toward international industry standards and conduct feasibility studies on ISO international standardization, with the goal of producing internationally recognized standardization outputs grounded in China’s original contributions.
III. Division of Responsibilities
I-ROAD Technology Company and Innovation Era Press will be responsible for: overall project planning, direction-setting, and organizational coordination; collection and provision of domestic and international technical materials, engineering case studies, and historical application records; publication and distribution in Chinese, English, Spanish, and other language editions; registration with the US Library of Congress LCCN system and international library dissemination channels; international ISBN registration and distribution through IngramSpark, Amazon, and related platforms; and, where collaborating parties need to apply for domestic research funding, provision of supporting materials including letters of collaboration and international publication documentation.
Collaborating parties will be responsible for: technical research, engineering framework consolidation, and chapter drafting; content writing and organization of academic and engineering references; technical translation, international terminology alignment, and multilingual content proofreading where translation work is involved; necessary testing, verification, data compilation, and technical analysis where required; and the delivery of complete, publication-ready written content.
Regarding costs, each party will in principle bear its own costs incurred through participation, with both sides collaborating on a cooperative basis. Where a collaborating party seeks to apply for domestic research funding, science and technology grants, or academic funds in connection with this project, I-ROAD Technology Company will provide necessary supporting cooperation.
IV. Open Call: Who We Are Looking For
We welcome collaboration from the following:
Universities and research institutions: research teams in traffic and transportation engineering, road engineering, intelligent transportation systems, optical engineering, electrical engineering, automation, smart cities, AI transportation infrastructure, and related disciplines.
Engineering and industry organizations: traffic engineering firms, road facility companies, testing and inspection agencies, intelligent transportation enterprises, and engineering consultancies.
Individual professionals: university faculty, engineers, standards researchers, doctoral candidates, technical writers, and translators.
Industry sponsors: companies in relevant industries are welcome to participate as sponsors, supporting the international dissemination of China’s original technical contributions. Sponsoring organizations will receive a dedicated acknowledgment page in the publication, simultaneous recognition in international distribution editions, an official sponsorship certificate and collaboration letter, and joint promotion through the project’s dissemination channels. Specific sponsorship arrangements are open to discussion.
V. Intellectual Property and Attribution Principles
This project will fully respect the intellectual property rights associated with existing papers, technical standards, patents, and all engineering and academic works referenced. All cited content will be properly attributed in accordance with applicable laws and conventions, with authors, sources, and bibliographic references clearly noted.
Attribution arrangements are as follows: the overall editorship of the publication will be held by the I-ROAD project lead, with one co-editor jointly appointed, both receiving equal attribution on the cover and in all international publication databases; several associate editors and major contributing authors will each receive a dedicated introductory page; participating organizations and individuals will be credited in the relevant chapters; copyright ownership and benefit-sharing arrangements will be determined through separate negotiation.
VI. Significance of the Project
This project is more than a technical publishing initiative — it is a forward-looking undertaking of strategic importance for international technology dissemination and standardization research.
Its core value lies in systematically establishing an international framework for the expression of China’s original technical contributions; transforming China’s leading engineering practice into academic and technical outputs with genuine international influence; enhancing China’s voice in international traffic engineering discourse; and laying a solid foundation for future ISO international standardization research.
This is a meaningful endeavor well worth the joint participation, shared authorship, and mutual benefit of researchers, engineers, and institutions working in the traffic engineering field. We sincerely invite those with shared vision to join us.
VII. Contact
Organizing bodies: I-ROAD Technology Company / Innovation Era Press
Contact email: contact@ierapress.com
WeChat / Phone: Huangdao20231119 / +1 6266482915
Website: https://iroadtraffic.com/
Appendix: Editorial Outline for “Research on the Development and Application of Active-Illumination Traffic Signs” (Draft) Download
