Bi-Level Optimization Model for Greener Transportation by Vehicular Networks

In general, dynamic traffic signal control or smooth driving benefits energy saving and CO₂ emissions. However, most of studies in the past lack the integrated optimization of traffic signals control and instantaneous vehicle motion states simultaneously on energy saving and CO₂ emission reduction. In this paper, a bi-level optimization model is proposed to minimize fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions by considering real-time traffic signal control in road side unit (RSU) and instantaneous vehicle motion states optimization in on-board unit (OBU) synthetically. The RSU communicates with OBUs by vehicle wireless communication networks. Then, the traffic signal scheme in RSU is optimized with the received vehicle motion data sent from OBUs, and the system in vehicles optimize their speed and acceleration with the received traffic signal scheme sent from RSU. The simulation results indicate that the proposed model outperforms the existing Maximize Throughput Model (MaxTM) up to 10% in reducing fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions especially when the traffic is heavy.