Urban Traffic State Sensing and Analysis Based on ETC Data: A Survey

Urban traffic management faces challenges, including inadequate sensing capabilities and insufficient operational status evaluation. The rapid expansion of electronic toll collection (ETC) systems from highways to urban roads provides new opportunities to address these issues. The vast amount of “dormant” ETC data contains rich traffic information that urgently needs to be deeply mined and effectively utilized. This paper reviews the research status, key technologies, and development trends of urban traffic state sensing and analysis technologies based on ETC data. In terms of technological development, ETC systems have evolved from simple toll collection tools to comprehensive traffic management platforms, featuring unique advantages such as accurate vehicle identification, extensive spatiotemporal coverage, and stable data quality. ETC data-based traffic sensing technologies encompass traffic state representation at microscopic, mesoscopic, and macroscopic levels, enabling comprehensive sensing from individual vehicle behavior to overall network operations. The construction of multi-source data fusion frameworks enables effective complementarity between ETC data, floating car data, and video detection data, significantly improving traffic state estimation accuracy. In practical applications, ETC data has demonstrated enormous potential in real-time monitoring and signal control optimization, traffic prediction and artificial intelligence technologies, environmental impact assessment, and other fields. Meanwhile, ETC data-based urban traffic management is transitioning from passive responses to proactive prediction, from single functions to comprehensive services, and from isolated systems to integrated platforms. Looking toward the future, the deep integration of emerging technologies, such as vehicle–road networking, edge computing, and artificial intelligence, with ETC systems will further promote the intelligent, refined, and precise development of urban traffic management.