VGrid: vehicular adhoc networking and computing grid for intelligent traffic control

We propose VGrid: an ad hoc networking and computing grid formed by leveraging inter-vehicle and vehicle-to-roadside wireless communications. In addition to exchanging data between vehicles, VGrid actively uses pertinent data to perform computations for solving traffic-related problems. The goal is to evolve intelligent transportation engineering from a centralized to a distributed approach, in which vehicle equipped with wireless networking and computers can cooperate and solve vehicular traffic-flow control problems autonomously. We present an example application: the merging of two lanes into one. We explore various algorithms to compute the optimal schedule for vehicle arrivals at the merge point using velocity/position information exchanged between vehicles. Our simulation results, using realistic vehicle mobility patterns, show that the proposed VGrid framework and algorithms can increase the system throughput and decrease the latency through the merge point.