A Principled Analysis of the Interrelation Between Vehicular Communication and Reasoning Capabilities of Autonomous Vehicles

The current growth in urbanisation is posing serious problems in urban areas worldwide. Traditional traffic control tools, such as SCOOT and SCATS, are widely exploited in major cities, but given the increasing traffic demands, they
need to be complemented with additional mechanisms. Within this context, the emerging interest in autonomous vehicles (AVs) points to the direction of a paradigm shift in the way in which traffic is controlled and managed. This is due to the fact that AVs can exploit different types of communication, hence take better informed decisions. Despite the amount of work dedicated to engineering solutions for supporting and implementing the different types of vehicular communication, there is a lack of analysis focusing on the implications of
exploiting one (or more) type of communication. In this work, focusing on urban areas, we provide a principled and detailed analysis of the impact of different kinds of communication on reasoning capabilities of vehicles and of urban traffic control (e.g. level of deliberation). The outcome of the performed analysis can then be fruitfully exploited by experts to better understand and support communication and reasoning, according to the needs of the controlled areas.