Collaborative Data Dissemination Methods In VANETs For Identifying Road Conditions Zone Boundaries

Vehicle to vehicle communication (V2VC) is a modern approach to exchanging and generating traffic information with (yet to be realised) potential to improve road safety, driving comfort and traffic control. In this paper, we present a novel algorithm which is based on V2V communication, uses in-vehicle sensor information and, in collaboration with other vehicles’ sensor information, can detect road conditions and determine the geographical area where these road conditions exist e.g. an area where there is traffic density, unusual traffic behaviour, a range of weather conditions (raining), etc. The built-in automatic geographical restriction of the data collection, aggregation and dissemination mechanisms allows warning messages to be received by other cars not necessarily sharing the identified road conditions, which may then be used to inform them of the optimum route to take (to avoid bottlenecks or dangerous areas including accidents or congestion on their current routes). We propose two approaches in this paper that are simple, flexible and fast and do not rely on any kind of roadside infrastructure equipment. They will offer live road condition information channels at – almost – no cost to drivers and public/private traffic agencies and have the potential to become an indispensable part of any future intelligent traffic system (ITS).