Communications of the ACM
In-Car Algorithm Could Rapidly Dissolve Traffic Jams
Credit: WJBC.com
University of Seoul researchers Hyun Keun Lee and Beom Jun Kim have developed an algorithm that could automate and improve the process for dissolving traffic jams, and could be implemented relatively easily in the next generation of cars.
Lee and Kim classify drivers who stay more than a safe distance away from the vehicle ahead as defensive, and those who leave too little room as optimistic. Then they use a cellular automaton to model traffic flow that reproduces most usual driving behaviors, such as speeding and accelerating or braking hard in response to road conditions. Lee and Kim also have all the vehicles in the model share their speed and position with their neighbors and filter this information downstream, which immediately makes vehicles aware of a traffic jam ahead. The algorithm would switch all downstream driving behavior to defensive, enabling vehicles to leave the standstill more quickly than they arrive.
The approach would only require an on-board algorithm for most cars, and a little more automated on-board control than currently exists in vehicles. Additional modeling would help keep such vehicle control from causing any problematic driving behaviors.
From Technology Review
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