Abstract
With recent advances in the development of wireless communication networks, Vehicular Ad hoc Networks (VANETs) have been receiving considerable research interest. One of the major applications of VANETs is Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). To exchange and distribute messages, geocast protocols have been proposed for ITS. Almost all of these protocols evaluate network performance level, instead of evaluating the protocol impact on the vehicular system. Nowadays, many drivers are becoming increasingly concerned with rising fuel cost. Therefore, it is desirable to create new "economical" geocast (EG) protocols. The main goals of this paper are to motivate communications researchers to design EG protocols, demonstrate the ability to integrate fuel consumption models with VANETs, and illustrate the necessity of transmitting information to vehicles in order for drivers to choose the economical path. Simulation results demonstrate that significant amounts of fuel will be saved if such an EG protocol is used.