VITAL – Traffic-dependent intelligent control of traffic light systems

Intelligent traffic lights keep traffic flowing.

The VITAL project is developing and testing two innovative control methods for traffic lights that utilise communication between vehicles and infrastructure (V2X) to improve traffic flow and reduce congestion.

The operation of traffic lights has a significant impact on how smoothly traffic flows and how high the risk of traffic jams is. This is where the German Aerospace Center (DLR) has come in and developed two new methods for controlling traffic lights that can make use of technical innovations in the field of vehicle-to-infrastructure communication (V2X):

  • VITAL control method based on loss time
  • Cooperative VITAL control procedure

The innovation in the VITAL process is that, for the first time, the lost times or predicted arrival times at the stop lines of the vehicles are taken into account when controlling the traffic lights. This is made possible by the intelligent traffic lights communicating with the cars using the in-built acquisition and communication technology (V2X).

Another special feature is that the existing fixed infrastructure can continue to be used and can be supplemented or completely replaced by V2X technology in the future. This saves infrastructure costs and enables a rapid market launch.

The DLR research vehicle crossing a junction with a VITAL traffic light system.
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The VITAL processes thus contribute to solving current transport and climate policy problems as well as technical and economic challenges:

  • Usability of vehicle-to-infrastructure communication (V2X) for LSA control
  • Improving the flow of traffic
  • Reduction of waiting and travelling times for road users
  • Avoidance of pollutant emissions in the interests of climate protection
  • Flexible LSA integration thanks to manufacturer and device independence
  • Applicability in networked and automated transport

Project goals:

The objectives of the VITAL project and its successor VITAL.NET are to test the innovative traffic light control procedures in real traffic and to subsequently transfer the VITAL procedures from research to practice, i.e. to prepare them for marketable application. To this end, several test areas have been and are currently being equipped with the VITAL procedures and the effect of the traffic light control procedures is being evaluated. The VITAL procedures can be used both for the control of individual junctions and for the coordination of entire road sections or networks with several traffic light junctions.

Test fields

The VITAL procedures are currently being used and trialled in several test fields. Additional information on the individual test fields can be found here.

Project durations:

VITAL (original/predecessor project): 05/2014 to 10/2016
VITAL.NET (follow-up project): 04/2018 to 10/2021

Latest news:

ITS World Congress 2021 Demonstration

Further information:

Publications:

List of publications in the Elib of the DLR

Promotion:

The VITAL project is funded by the Validation Fund of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers for the validation of research results for marketable applications and by DLR Technology Marketing.

This project is managed by the department:

Research Cooperative Systems

The department is pioneering new autonomous mobility solutions by researching, designing, and demonstrating connection, automation, cooperation, and coordination for vehicles, system networks, and us humans.

Contact

Sten Ruppe

Acting Head of Department
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Institute of Transportation Systems
Research Cooperative Systems
Rutherfordstr. 2, 12489 Berlin