A Single Intersection Cooperative-Competitive Paradigm in Real Time Traffic Signal Settings Based on Floating Car Data

Abstract

New technologies such as "connected" and "autonomous" vehicles are going to change the future of traffic signal control and management and possibly will introduce new traffic signal systems that will be based on floating car data (FCD). The use of floating car data to regulate traffic signal systems, in real time, has the potential for an increased sustainability of transportation in terms of energy efficiency, traffic safety and environmental issues. However, research has never explored how not "connected" vehicles would benefit by the implementation of such systems. This paper explores the use of floating car data to regulate traffic signal systems in real-time in a single intersection and in terms of cooperative-competitive paradigm between "connected" vehicles and conventional vehicles. In a dedicated laboratory, developed for testing regulation algorithms, results show that "invisible vehicles" for the system (which are not "connected") in most simulated cases also benefit when real time traffic signal settings based on floating car data are introduced. Moreover, the study estimates the energy and air quality impacts of a single intersection signal regulation by evaluating fuel consumption and pollutant emissions. Specifically, the study demonstrates that significant improvements in air quality are possible with the introduction of FCD regulated traffic signals.Energies 2019, 12, 409 2 of 22 completely eliminated, showing that congestion was reduced and safety increased [5,6]. Cassini [7,8] also presents a fascinating case where traffic signals were installed improperly causing residents to protest, without success, until the moment the lights went off for a technical failure and the traffic jams magically disappeared.While these experiences hint that regulating traffic signal systems properly is an important and actual problem, mobile internet coupled with Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) localization systems are creating disruptive innovations in the transportation sector. A real technical revolution has started, driven by the convergence of mobile internet, GNSS and the introduction of "connected" vehicles.Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) can take advantage in the use of Floating Car Data (FCD) for managing traffic flow or to extract traffic flow parameters and many large scale deployments of such systems based on Floating Car Data (FCD) are already showing the use of mobile phones [9][10][11][12] and wireless communications [13,14] combined with GNSS technologies.Smartphones (and connected vehicles) can obtain localization and speed information from GNSS systems such as Galileo, GPS and Glonass. GPS sensors embedded in smartphones provide an economical method to obtain vehicular travel times [15] and to evaluate traffic scenarios [16,17]. Smartphones also allow the estimation of traffic safety parameters [18] and route choices [19]. Mobile devices have also been used to asses safety and risks by insurance companies [20] and for traffic safety [21,22] and fuel consumption estimation [23]....

Floating Car Data Adaptive Traffic Signals: A Description of the First Real-Time Experiment with “Connected” Vehicles

“…Moreover, the presented system can be considered a cooperative intelligent transportation system (one of the first being actually implemented in the field) since it requires the cooperation of connected vehicles in communicating their position in real time. The following issues regarding cooperation and competition have been thoroughly discussed in [63]:…”

“…The best agreement is the equilibrium point and all actions should be devoted to move the system toward that point. More details on the implementation of this algorithm can be found in [63].…”

“…This information could advantage also other vehicles which are not connected. The findings of previous works [63,64,66] based on simulation showed that when a percentage of 30% is reached all vehicles take advantage from the shared information coming from "connected" vehicles.…”

“…The contemporary presence of both connected and not connected vehicles involves concepts of cooperation and competition. Concepts of cooperation and competition have been studied using simulation in: [63,64]. The performed simulations demonstrated that there are benefits for all drivers when the percentage of connected vehicles reaches around 30% and that even under this percentage the drivers that are not using the system would not receive too much delay.…”

A Review of Blockchain-Based Systems in Transportation

“…Traditional efforts to solve congestion problems have been centred in attempts to move the demand on the transit system [96] and on a better management of road traffic using tools such as traffic simulation [97][98][99][100][101][102], dynamic network loading equilibria, and dynamic models [103,104] for the simulation and management of user route choice [105][106][107][108][109]. New technologies such as intelligent transportation systems and co-operative intelligent transportation systems (C-ITS) have also been considered for an increase in road traffic sustainability [110][111][112], though the true innovation is possibly coming from the future generation of vehicles that will be electric, "connected," and "autonomous." New vehicles are considered by many the key to completely transform traffic networks in terms of reduced energy consumption, improved safety, and reduced pollution.…”