Adapting Future Vehicle Technologies for Smart Traffic Control Systems

Abstract

Traffic control systems are imperative to the everyday function and quality of life for society. The current methods, such as; SCATS, SCOOT and InSync, provide this solution, but with limited flexibility. With the advances in context-aware technologies and wireless vehicular communication as discussed by Maglaras, and the rise of the Internet of Things allowing inexpensive networking of devices current technologies are becoming rapidly outdated. Some examples of such vehicle technologies are discussed in recent studies, namely, social internet of vehicles, and wireless sensing technologies. As the smart city landscape develops, some of these technological advances can be adapted into smart traffic control systems, improving the transport
efficiency throughout the road network, while reducing levels of traffic congestion, amount of air pollution, improving quality of life. Although air pollution can be somewhat mitigated with technologies like Stop-Start, Hybrid or Electric, traffic congestion still has negative effect on the quality of life for the drivers, as well as the residence in the affected areas. As it has been outlined before by Glaesar, reducing traffic congestion remains a crucial goal of these future vehicle technologies.
Addressing the traffic congestion problem, this chapter reviews existing technologies and future vehicle concepts that can be a good starting point for future studies of implementing a Smart Traffic Control System (STCS), starting by looking at the importance of STCSs, reviewing existing technologies in use with a focus on the most common, and identifying their shortcomings. Afterward, three potential vehicular technologies; V2X (Vehicle-to-X) communication, vehicle cloud
computing (VCC) and vehicle social networks (VSNs) , will be reviewed based on previous works, with their applicability in
STCSs based on potential efficiency, security and privacy aspects.