Traffic at the Edge of Chaos
Abstract
We use a very simple description of human driving behavior to simulate traffic. The regime of maximum vehicle flow in a closed system shows near-critical behavior, and as a result a sharp decrease of the predictability of travel time. Since Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMSs) tend to drive larger parts of the transportation system towards this regime of maximum flow, we argue that in consequence the traffic system as a whole will be driven closer to criticality, thus making predictions much harder. A simulation of a simplified transportation network supports our argument.
Cite
@article{arxiv.adap-org/9502005,
title = {Traffic at the Edge of Chaos},
author = {Nagel K and Rasmussen S},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:adap-org/9502005},
year = {2008}
}
Comments
Postscript version including most of the figures available from http://studguppy.tsasa.lanl.gov/research_team/. Paper has been published in Brooks RA, Maes P, Artifical Life IV: ..., MIT Press, 1994