Improving Route Choice: Communication Issues in Moving Variable Message Signs

Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) could benefit from the vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) principles to improve traffic performance, obtaining user/local data from vehicles and providing them back with information tailored from the whole system altogether. In this work, we explored the strategy of conveying recommendations to drivers through buses that are in front of them and equipped with a variable message sign (VMS) on their rear. We analyse the impact of such a strategy on the system equilibrium, using the Simulation of Urban MObility (SUMO) microscopic simulation suit. There is a correlation between the number of buses and the percentage of informed decisions and, therefore, it is crucial to consider the frequency of the bus services and the communication efficiency between the road-side (RSU) and on-board (OBU) units, as well as articulate the RSU location with traffic infrastructure, in order to minimize transmission failures and obtain a better traffic performance.