A novel CAM-based traffic light preemption algorithm for efficient guidance of emergency vehicles

Focusing on efficiently handling traffic signalling for emergency vehicles via minimally-invasive schemes, in this manuscript we propose a novel traffic light preemption algorithm based on processing part of the Cooperative Awareness Messages (CAM) already defined in the so-called European Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) communication architecture. In order to minimize the probability of error in traffic preemption, our proposed algorithm not only relies on such CAM messages, but information on the environment, overriding the necessity for installing any further device on urban furniture. To shed some light on the performance of our algorithm, preliminary Monte Carlo simulations have been carried out for a simplistic scenario, where it is shown that the proposed algorithm is able to preempt traffic lights using the angular and spatial information provided by CAM messages with low probability of error. These results pave the way for future research aimed at simulating and validating the algorithm in real traffic scenarios.