Impacts of vehicular communication networks on traffic dynamics and fuel efficiency

Vehicular communication networks based on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) have drawn increasing research interest in recent years. Through modeling and simulation of two traffic mobility scenarios (vehicle platooning and dynamic traffic), we discuss the performance of vehicular communication between vehicles. Two measures are selected: throughput and end-to-end delay, to answer two important questions about how fast the information can be delivered and how far the communication can reach. These simulation results provide critical recommendations on vehicular communication equipment selection and implementation in a real world situation. Meanwhile, we study the impacts of using ICT in the field of fuel consumption. Vehicle platooning decreases fuel consumption. Faster average moving speed decreases travel time and increases fuel efficiency. This fuel consumption study can be extended to a more complicated environmental analysis for sustainable transport systems. The study ends with three recommendations for vehicular network researchers and three key challenges and opportunities for using vehicular communication technology to improve transport efficiency.