LLM-Driven Signal Control Method for Signalized Intersections with Mixed Traffic Flow

With the development of artificial intelligence and automated driving technologies, traffic signal control is evolving toward greater flexibility and faster response. From the perspective of the Transportation Cyber-Physical System (T-CPS), this paper focuses on mixed traffic scenarios involving connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) and human-driven vehicles (HVs). It proposes integrating a Large Language Model (LLM) into signal control: roadside devices perceive traffic states, prompt engineering is constructed, and the LLM is driven to reason and generate control signals. On this basis, a CAV speed guidance algorithm is proposed. Controlled SUMO simulations of a single isolated intersection under ideal V2X communication assumptions show that the proposed method improves delay performance under the tested mixed-traffic conditions. As the CAV penetration rate increases, traffic performance is further improved. Additional experiments under emergency-vehicle priority, road-construction constraints, different traffic-demand levels, perception noise, and different decision intervals and guidance ranges provide simulation-based evidence of training-free scenario adaptability and robustness within the examined scope. Although inference latency and remote-API delays constrain the timely availability of fresh LLM actions, the hard-deadline policy and deterministic fallback mechanism maintain continuous signal execution and favorable traffic performance in the controlled SUMO simulations.

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Publication Details

Journal
Systems
Published
2026-09-14
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/systems14091145
Primary Topic
Traffic control and management
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

LLM-Driven Signal Control Method for Signalized Intersections with Mixed Traffic Flow

Y.X. Zhang, Junyao Lin, Tao Wang
Systems
Traffic control and management
article

LLM-Driven Signal Control Method for Signalized Intersections with Mixed Traffic Flow

Y.X. Zhang, Junyao Lin, Tao Wang
article en

Abstract

With the development of artificial intelligence and automated driving technologies, traffic signal control is evolving toward greater flexibility and faster response. From the perspective of the Transportation Cyber-Physical System (T-CPS), this paper focuses on mixed traffic scenarios involving connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) and human-driven vehicles (HVs). It proposes integrating a Large Language Model (LLM) into signal control: roadside devices perceive traffic states, prompt engineering is constructed, and the LLM is driven to reason and generate control signals. On this basis, a CAV speed guidance algorithm is proposed. Controlled SUMO simulations of a single isolated intersection under ideal V2X communication assumptions show that the proposed method improves delay performance under the tested mixed-traffic conditions. As the CAV penetration rate increases, traffic performance is further improved. Additional experiments under emergency-vehicle priority, road-construction constraints, different traffic-demand levels, perception noise, and different decision intervals and guidance ranges provide simulation-based evidence of training-free scenario adaptability and robustness within the examined scope. Although inference latency and remote-API delays constrain the timely availability of fresh LLM actions, the hard-deadline policy and deterministic fallback mechanism maintain continuous signal execution and favorable traffic performance in the controlled SUMO simulations.

SystemsVol. 14(9)
Guangxi Transportation Research Institute (CN), Guilin University of Electronic Technology (CN)
Sustainable cities and communities
Openalex Percentile: Top 14%
Traffic control and management
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