Simulation Study of a Traffic Light Assistant Based on Vehicle-Infrastructure Communication

TL;DR

This paper uses simulation to evaluate how vehicle-infrastructure communication can enhance traffic flow at intersections by providing equipped vehicles with advance traffic light information, leading to several percent improvements.

Contribution

It introduces a simulation framework to assess traffic flow improvements using vehicle-infrastructure communication with advance traffic light data.

Findings

Several percent increase in cycle-averaged capacity

Improved driving comfort and reduced fuel consumption

Fewer stops and shorter travel times

Abstract

Vehicle-infrastructure communication opens up new ways to improve traffic flow efficiency at signalized intersections. In this study, we assume that equipped vehicles can obtain information about switching times of relevant traffic lights in advance, and additionally counting data from upstream detectors. By means of simulation, we investigate, how equipped vehicles can make use of this information to improve traffic flow. Criteria include cycle-averaged capacity, driving comfort, fuel consumption, travel time, and the number of stops. Depending on the overall traffic demand and the penetration rate of equipped vehicles, we generally find several percent of improvement.