A Distributed V2V-Based Virtual Traffic Light System

Congestion in urban areas carries inherent costs in terms of fuel consumption, pollution, delays. Although ITS systems have devised solutions such as GLOSA, they require sophisticated infrastructure and thus installation and maintenance investments. In this paper, we propose V3TL, a V2V-based distributed solution to manage unregulated intersections that aims primarily at minimizing the time needed to clear the intersection, while reducing the number of stop-and-go maneuvers that are known to increase emissions. The proposed solution operates a cyclic scheduling of vehicles as they approach the intersection, letting them coordinate among each other through V2V communication. We simulated the solution in an unregulated four-way intersection, showing that it achieves its objectives.