  As traffic congestion becomes a huge problem for most developing and
developed countries across the world, intelligent transportation systems (ITS)
are becoming a hot topic that is attracting attention of researchers and the
general public alike. In this paper, we demonstrate a specific implementation
of an ITS system whereby traffic lights are actuated by DSRC radios installed
in vehicles. More specifically, we report the design of prototype of a
DSRC-Actuated Traffic Lights (DSRC-ATL) system. It is shown that this system
can reduce the travel time and commute time significantly, especially during
rush hours. Furthermore, the results reported in this paper do not assume or
require all vehicles to be equipped with DSCR radios. Even with low penetration
ratios, e.g., when only 20% of all vehicles in a city are equipped with DSRC
radios, the overall performance of the designed system is superior to the
current traffic control systems.
