Title
Self-Organizing Traffic Lights
Abstract
Steering traffic in cities is a very complex task, since improving efficiency involves the coordination of many actors. Traditional approaches attempt to optimize traffic lights for a particular density and configuration of traffic. The disadvantage of this lies in the fact that traffic densities and configurations change constantly. Traffic seems to be an adaptation problem rather than an optimization problem. We propose a simple and feasible alternative, in which traffic lights self-organize to improve traffic flow. We use a multi-agent simulation to study three self-organizing methods, which are able to outperform traditional rigid and adaptive methods. Using simple rules and no direct communication, traffic lights are able to self-organize and adapt to changing traffic conditions, reducing waiting times, number of stopped cars, and increasing average speeds.
Year
Venue
Keywords
2005
Complex Systems
self organization,optimization problem,artificial intelligent,statistical mechanics,traffic flow
Field
DocType
Volume
Traffic generation model,Traffic flow,Advanced Traffic Management System,Control theory,Simulation,Real-time computing,InSync adaptive traffic control system,Traffic shaping,Optimization problem,Network traffic simulation,Mathematics,Traffic conflict
Journal
16
Issue
ISSN
Citations 
1
Complex Systems 16(1): 29-53. 2005
25
PageRank 
References 
Authors
3.27
3
1
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Carlos Gershenson139242.34