Virtual Traffic Light

Role

Autonomous vehicles have to cooperate with the infrastructures such as:

• Warehouse shutters
• Traffic lights with V2X support
• Communication devices at intersections
• Fleet Management Systems (FMS)

The following items are example cases:

1. Traffic control by traffic lights with V2X support

2. Intersection coordination of multiple vehicles by FMS.

It’s possible to make each function individually, however, the use cases can be generalized with these three elements.

1. start: Start a cooperation procedure after the vehicle enters a certain zone.
2. stop: Stop at a defined stop line according to the status received from infrastructures.
3. end: Finalize the cooperation procedure after the vehicle reaches the exit zone. This should be done within the range of stable communication.

This module sends/receives status from infrastructures and plans the velocity of the cooperation result.

System Configuration Diagram

@startuml
!theme cerulean-outline

' Component
node "Autoware ECU" as autoware_ecu {
  component "Behavior Planner" as behavior_planner
  component "Autoware API" as autoware_api
  database "Vector Map" as vector_map
  note bottom of vector_map
    Communication metadata is stored.
  end note
}

package "Infrastructures" as infrastructures {
  node "FMS" as fms
  node "Automatic Shutter" as automatic_shutter
  node "Manual Shutter" as manual_shutter
  node "Remove Controllable Traffic Light" as remote_controllable_traffic_light
  node "Warning Light" as warning_light
}

' Relationship
'' Behavior Planner <-> Autoware API
behavior_planner -up-> autoware_api : infrastructure\n command
autoware_api -down-> behavior_planner : infrastructure\n state

'' Vector Map
vector_map -left-> behavior_planner : vector map

'' Autoware API <-> Infrastructure
autoware_api -up-> fms : <color:blue>lock\n <color:blue>request
fms -down-> autoware_api : <color:blue>right-of-way\n <color:blue>state

autoware_api -up-> automatic_shutter : <color:green>approach\n <color:green>notification
automatic_shutter -down-> autoware_api : <color:green>shutter\n <color:green>state

autoware_api -up-> manual_shutter : <color:blue>open/close\n <color:blue>command
manual_shutter -down-> autoware_api : <color:blue>shutter\n <color:blue>state

autoware_api -up-> remote_controllable_traffic_light : <color:green>light change\n <color:green>command
remote_controllable_traffic_light -down-> autoware_api : <color:green>light\n <color:green>state

autoware_api -up-> warning_light : <color:blue>activation\n <color:blue>command
warning_light -down-> autoware_api : <color:blue>warning light\n <color:blue>state

' Layout
'' Infrastructure
fms -[hidden]right-> automatic_shutter
automatic_shutter -[hidden]right-> manual_shutter
manual_shutter -[hidden]right-> remote_controllable_traffic_light
remote_controllable_traffic_light -[hidden]right-> warning_light

@enduml

Planner and each infrastructure communicate with each other using common abstracted messages.

• Special handling for each infrastructure is not scalable. The interface is defined as an Autoware API.
• The requirements for each infrastructure are slightly different, but will be handled flexibly.

FMS: Intersection coordination when multiple vehicles are in operation and the relevant lane is occupied

• Automatic shutter: Open the shutter when approaching/close it when leaving
• Manual shutter: Have the driver open and close the shutter.
• Remote control signal: Have the driver change the signal status to match the direction of travel.
• Warning light: Activate the warning light

Support different communication methods for different infrastructures

• HTTP

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Changelog for package autoware_behavior_velocity_virtual_traffic_light_module

0.47.0 (2025-08-11)

• style(pre-commit): update to clang-format-20 (#11088) Co-authored-by: pre-commit-ci[bot] <66853113+pre-commit-ci[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
• Contributors: Mete Fatih Cırıt

0.46.0 (2025-06-20)

• Merge remote-tracking branch 'upstream/main' into tmp/TaikiYamada/bump_version_base

• feat(virtual_traffic_light): improve log message (#10814)

  * feat(virtual_traffic_light): improve log message update udpate

  * Update planning/behavior_velocity_planner/autoware_behavior_velocity_virtual_traffic_light_module/src/scene.cpp Co-authored-by: Taiki Yamada <<129915538+TaikiYamada4@users.noreply.github.com>>

  • delete getState

  * Update planning/behavior_velocity_planner/autoware_behavior_velocity_virtual_traffic_light_module/src/scene.cpp Co-authored-by: Taiki Yamada <<129915538+TaikiYamada4@users.noreply.github.com>>

  * delete comments ---------Co-authored-by: Taiki Yamada <<129915538+TaikiYamada4@users.noreply.github.com>>

• Contributors: Kosuke Takeuchi, TaikiYamada4

0.45.0 (2025-05-22)

• Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/main' into tmp/notbot/bump_version_base
• fix(detection_area_module,virtual_traffic_light,no_stopping_area): support overlap lane (#10623)
• fix(behavior_velocity_planner): add missing header (#10561) Co-authored-by: pre-commit-ci[bot] <66853113+pre-commit-ci[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
• feat(behavior_velocity_planner): only wait for the required subscriptions (#10546)
• refactor(virtual_traffic_light, QC): replace checkCollision with autoware_utils_geometry (#10524)
• Contributors: Mamoru Sobue, Masaki Baba, TaikiYamada4, Takayuki Murooka, Yukinari Hisaki

0.44.2 (2025-06-10)

0.44.1 (2025-05-01)

0.44.0 (2025-04-18)

0.43.0 (2025-03-21)

• Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/main' into chore/bump-version-0.43

• chore: rename from [autoware.universe]{.title-ref} to [autoware_universe]{.title-ref} (#10306)

• fix(behavior_velocity_planner): planning factor integration (#10292)

  • fix: blind_spot
  • fix: crosswalk
  • fix: detection_area
  • fix: intersection
  • fix: no_drivable_lane
  • fix: no_stopping_area
  • fix: run_out
  • fix: stop_line
  • fix: traffic_light
  • fix: virtual_traffic_light

  * fix: walk_way ---------

• feat(Autoware_planning_factor_interface): replace tier4_msgs with autoware_internal_msgs (#10204)

• Contributors: Hayato Mizushima, Satoshi OTA, Yutaka Kondo, 心刚

0.42.0 (2025-03-03)

• Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/main' into tmp/bot/bump_version_base

• feat(autoware_utils): replace autoware_universe_utils with

File truncated at 100 lines see the full file