CityDrive: A map-generating and speed-optimizing driving system

There have been many traffic light control systems around the globe, but the high cost of infrastructure and maintenance hinders their wide deployment. However, speed-advisory systems enabled by on-vehicle devices are much cheaper and easier to deploy. The first challenge of such systems is to get the traffic signal schedule in complex intersections. The second challenge is to get map information and calculate the distance. Facing these challenges we devise and implement a speed-advisory driving system called CityDrive, which harnesses the sensor and GPS data from a wide participation of smartphones to suggest proper speed for drivers so that they arrive at intersections in green phase. CityDrive first generates a road map and then infers traffic signal schedules, using only smartphones and a server. CityDrive does not eliminate stops at intersections, but it tries to maximize the probability that vehicles cruise through intersections in green phase. Both simulation and real test show that this continuous speed advisory service effectively smoothes traffic flow and significantly reduces energy consumption.