  Traffic signals are ubiquitous devices that first appeared in 1868. Recent
advances in information and communications technology (ICT) have led to
unprecedented improvements in such areas as mobile handheld devices (i.e.,
smartphones), the electric power industry (i.e., smart grids), transportation
infrastructure, and vehicle area networks. Given the trend towards
interconnectivity, it is only a matter of time before vehicles communicate with
one another and with infrastructure. In fact, several pilots of such
vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure (e.g. traffic lights and
parking spaces) communication systems are already operational. This survey of
autonomous and self-organized traffic signaling control has been undertaken
with these potential developments in mind. Our research results indicate that,
while many sophisticated techniques have attempted to improve the scheduling of
traffic signal control, either real-time sensing of traffic patterns or a
priori knowledge of traffic flow is required to optimize traffic. Once this is
achieved, communication between traffic signals will serve to vastly improve
overall traffic efficiency.
