ITS for Sustainable Mobility: A Survey on Applications and Impact Assessment Tools

Road transportation is one of the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions, which lead to global warming and climate change. Promoting the decarbonization of this sector through more efficient and greener mobility is a challenging task that can be achieved by intelligent transportation systems (ITS) enabled by vehicular communications. In this paper, we briefly present how mobility players and enablers (driver, vehicle, and road network) influence energy consumption and pollutant emissions. Furthermore, this survey paper details how different ITS, ranging from eco-routing to intelligent intersection management, can lead to sustainable mobility by promoting a more efficient vehicle usage and enhanced efficiency on road network utilization. Results shown that ITS has the potential to considerably reduce fuel consumption and pollutant emissions, namely, by smoothing the traffic flow, reducing the number of start–stops, and reducing the total travel distance. In addition, we present and analyze two main methods for evaluating green transportation systems: 1) field operational tests; and 2) simulation-based evaluations. We give special emphasis to simulation-based assessment of Green ITS measures by detailing the necessary models and their interactions. Finally, we propose a number of recommendations and future research directions in the area of Green ITS.