# Special Issue on Future Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) for Tomorrow and Beyond
###### Abstract  
Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) has evolved into a system for provision of traffic information and traffic control with the help of advanced IT technologies. Congestion and safety issues arise when the number of vehicles on the road increases, and has become the bottleneck. The cost of congestion in the United States is estimated to be 115 billion dollars, and in addition, it is estimated that more than 1.2 million deaths happen every year due to road accidents. According to a survey by the Texas Transportation Institute, commuters in the United States spend over 42 h per year trapped in traffic, and vehicles waste more than 3 billion gallons of fuel every year, costing $160 billion, which is equal to $960 per traveler [1]. Such issues will be exacerbated in the future because of the increasing population and migration to metropolitan regions in many countries throughout the world. The implementation of ITS to increase the efficiency and safety of transportation is one possible solution to this challenge. This would be accomplished through the use of sensing technologies, modern communications, information processing, and control technologies. Data collection, data analysis, and data transmission are essential components needed for the advanced technologies and applications of ITSs. In data collection, information regarding the different parameters like traffic flow, road network, average travel time, number of pedestrians passing a transit line, etc. is collected by using sensing devices. Generally, in order to gather traffic information including vehicle speed and traffic volume, inductive loop detectors and pneumatic tubes are used to detect the presence of vehicles on the road using the induced current and pressure changes of the tube, respectively [2]. With the development of advanced sensing and imaging technologies, cameras and radio-frequency identification (RFID) scanners are widely being used for data collection in ITS. Typically, cameras are installed at different places within the network collecting motion videos of traffic scenes. By analyzing the images of the video, image-processing software is used to gather traffic information, such as traffic flow, vehicle types, and speed [3]. In addition, automatic license recognition plates and matching technologies are employed to obtain secondary traffic information such as traveling periods and routes [4]. With advanced communication technologies, more stable and secure communication in ITS can be established. Having cellular network equipment (GSM, GPRS, 3G, LTE) in the vehicle, it is possible to communicate with the cloud server to gather information [5]. Sensors in vehicles can form a wireless sensor network (WSN) and thus diverse applications [6,7] of the WSN can be applied to the ITS. Moreover, in order to have communication between the device of the vehicle and the bus stop used as a gateway, long-range technology is used [8]. The aim of data analysis focuses on providing different traffic information and control/management strategies from the collected data. For the evaluation of traffic conditions and the supplement of necessary solutions, predefined and pre-calibrated models, traffic flow models, and other models for intersection are usually used. With theimprovements in computational performance and efficiency, agent-based models and micro-simulation schemes have been developed to perform accurate and detailed evaluations [9]. As the operation of smartphones significantly increases, mobile phone data, media access control addresses from wireless fidelity and bluetooth, and global positioning system (GPS) data are provided to analyze the traveling behavior and traffic circumstances. With more personalized and specified information from devices, a more detailed analysis of behavioral information can be performed. Vehicle detection, one of the essential tasks in ITSs, is typically used to collect and provide information including identification of traffic accidents, vehicle counting, speed measurement, and traffic flow prediction.