###### Abstract  
Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) are vital to many Intelligent Transportation System (ITS)-enabled technologies, including efficient traffic control, media applications, and encrypted financial transactions. Due to an increase in traffic, vehicular network topology is constantly changing, and sparse vehicle distribution (on highways) hinders network scalability. Thus, there is a challenge for all vehicles (in the network) to maintain a stable route, which would increase network instability. Concerning IoT-based network transportation, this study proposes a bio-inspired, cluster-based algorithm for routing, i.e., the intelligent, probability-based, and nature-inspired whale optimization algorithm (p-WOA), which produces cluster formation in vehicular communication. Various parameters, such as communication range, number of nodes, velocity, and route along the highway were considered, and their probabilities were incorporated into the fitness function, hence resulting in randomness reduction. Results were compared to existing methods such as Ant Lion Optimizer (ALO) and Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO), demonstrating that the developed p-WOA technique produces an optimal number of cluster heads (CH). The results achieved by calculating the Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR), average throughput, and latency demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method over other well-established methodologies (ALO and GWO). This study confirms statistically that VANETs employing ITS applications optimize their clusters by a factor of 75, which has the twin benefits of decreasing communication costs and routing overhead and extending the life of the cluster as a whole. bio-inspired algorithms; clustering; vehicular networks; whale optimization algorithm +
Footnote †: journal: Accepted: 20 January 2023  
existing cellular network's infrastructure to access those services; in this case, the base station's coverage area is measured in Cubicles (cells). When packets are transmitted with low latency and high bandwidth base stations in mind, new applications in the fields of VCN and V-WLAN are made possible; nevertheless, these systems are not utilized because their devices and infrastructures are costly, and their locations are less than ideal. Due to these discrepancies, the network's efficiency suffers, and the connected vehicles' range, latency, and connectivity are all severely limited. The high speeds at which vehicles (on highways) travel reduce the efficiency of the network and may cause radio links to be severed [2]. This is because the transmission range is shortened due to issues such as handoffs, message dropouts, and limited connectivity between cars. V-WLANs and VCNs have a big limitation in terms of cost-effectiveness because each vehicle must be linked and provided with an access point, which increases the price of the entire ITS [3]. Wireless nodes and the operator's data transfer packages work together to provide cost-efficient answers [4]. It is more challenging to deliver messages to all vehicles at once due to the limitations of the vehicular network; as a result, only unicast and multicast communications are possible. Taking into account the aforementioned constraints, along with the desire to improve dependability and mobile connection, a new network called a vehicular network emerged [5]. Each car in this network is linked to every other car in the system as well as to a central unit and several access points along the road. Introducing standardized On-Board Units (OBUs) for automobiles that interface with the network has the potential to increase system reliability and coverage area while also lowering the system's overall cost [6]. Numerous vehicle communication apps have an impact on drivers' comfort and security in a variety of ways [7]. Several different kinds of ITS security applications can be distinguished in inter-vehicle communication based on the transmission method, which can be either geo mode or broadcast.