Intelligent transportation systems based on internet-connected vehicles: Fundamental research areas and challenges

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) rapidly migrate towards the Future Internet (FI) era, which is characterized, among others, by powerful and complex network infrastructures and innovative applications, services and content. An application area that attracts immense research interest is transportation. In particular, traffic congestions, emergencies and accidents reveal inefficiencies in transportation infrastructures, which can be overcome through the exploitation of ICT findings, in designing systems that are targeted at traffic / emergency management, namely Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). This paper considers the potential connection of vehicles to form vehicular networks that communicate with each other at an IP-based level, exchange information either directly or indirectly (e.g. through social networking applications and web communities) and contribute to a more efficient and green future world of transportation. In particular, the paper presents the basic research areas that are associated with the concept of Internet of Vehicles (IoV) and outlines the fundamental research challenges that arise there from.