Reusing Spare Vehicle Computing Capacity: Is It Viable, Profitable and Sustainable?

2026-09-24

AI Summary

This study addresses the lack of quantitative evidence regarding the feasibility, profitability, and sustainability of sharing idle vehicular computing resources in vehicular clouds by proposing a framework that decouples resource allocation from incentive design. Methodologically, it develops a deadline-aware task offloading scheme and constructs a robust coalition game mechanism resilient to malicious declarations to safeguard stakeholder revenues, with validation conducted via SUMO-based simulations using Rome traffic trajectories. Results demonstrate millisecond-level task response times, an average monthly range extension of 157 kilometers per vehicle, and over 99% reduction in lifecycle carbon emissions compared to conventional edge infrastructure. These findings provide empirical support for both the economic and environmental sustainability of vehicular clouds.

Abstract

Vehicular Cloud Computing (VCC) exploits computing hardware already embedded in vehicles for purposes unrelated to offloading and puts its idle cycles to work executing end-users' offloaded tasks, avoiding the deployment of new computation infrastructure. Despite its conceptual appeal, adoption is hindered by the lack of quantitative evidence that sharing spare vehicular capacity is viable, profitable and sustainable. A management scheme for task offloading sustains deadline-constrained execution by decoupling deadline-aware allocation from ex-post incentive design, making the approach viable. A robust coalitional game and a vehicle-selection mechanism keep the network operator and the vehicle owners profitable even under unfavorable outcomes of the random environment, e.g.,mobility, radio conditions, or vehicles overstating their spare capacity. A simulation campaign on realistic urban mobility, using Simulation of Urban MObility (SUMO) traces of Rome,together with a CO2 life-cycle assessment against edge computing infrastructure, whose footprint, is attributed pro rata to the share of its capacity devoted to offloading shows the approach to be sustainable. Vehicles absorb most of the offloaded traffic within tens of milliseconds; participation yields up to 157 km of monthly driving range per vehicle; and life-cycle emissions drop by over 99% when using VCC compared to that edge infrastructure.

Problem

• Vehicular Cloud Computing
• Task Offloading
• Spare Computing Capacity
• Sustainability
• Coalitional Game

Innovation

• Vehicular Cloud Computing
• Task Offloading
• Robust Coalitional Game
• Incentive Mechanism
• Life-cycle Assessment