UCLA

Vehicles are an integral part of modern life. People depend on vehicles for transportation between work, home, and entertainment. As populations have grown and lower production costs have made vehicle ownership more accessible to more people, the number of vehicles on the road has skyrocketed. The potential for a collision with other drivers increases as more vehicles are added to the roadways. These additional vehicles also create congestion, consuming drivers' valuable time, and contributing to traffic delays.

Huge advances have been made in technology since the introduction of the first vehicle at the turn of the 20th century. Modern vehicles are equipped with sensors, navigation systems, and communication devices that enable data collection and information sharing like never before. This technology can be leveraged to improve traffic efficiency and safety.

The first contribution of this dissertation is the introduction of a framework that uses historical and real-time traffic data to access the risk levels of various routes to provide drivers with the ability to consider their safety when making travel plans.

The second contribution is a protocol that relies on cooperation between vehicles through wireless communication to improve the overall traffic state of all vehicles along a roadway.

The third contribution is a scheme that reduces the load placed on cellular infrastructure that provides vehicles access to Internet content.

The results in this work further the movement of vehicular technology-based solutions, creating safer and more efficient driving experiences.