Summary
Vehicular ad‐hoc network (VANET) is an emerging field of mobile ad‐hoc network (MANET) which facilitates intelligent transport system (ITS). It thus helps in enhancing the real‐time driving experience and road safety. Due to association of VANET with life‐critical applications, there is a dire need to understand each and every aspect of it in terms of architecture, security, applications, routing, and so forth, before bringing it into implementation. Although there exist numerous studies on VANETs, they tend to cover only individual aspects of it. This first of its kind survey aims to provide a combined and thorough study of each aspect of VANET along with their advantages and limitations in a single solid document. Different architectures proposed till date have been explored along with their shortcomings and the possible applications which are supported in VANETs. Comparison of various wireless technologies used in VANET based on the range requirement of different VANET applications and various routing protocols that are best suited for VANET on the basis of the application requirement is done. It also discusses the various security attacks possible in VANET, the risks associated with them, and the possible security solutions available for these attacks. Various optimization and bio‐inspired techniques as well as intrusion detection systems for enhancing security in VANET are also analyzed. Finally, various simulators have been investigated, and comprehensive analysis has been done with respect to the feasibility of implementation of VANETs in these simulators. This research is believed to assist the researchers in understanding the current state of research in VANETs.