Dissolution of traffic jam via additional local interactions

TL;DR

This paper investigates traffic flow patterns using cellular automata, identifying phase transitions and proposing a local interaction-based method to dissolve traffic jams more effectively.

Contribution

It introduces a novel local interaction approach to help traffic systems escape jam phases, improving upon traditional density reduction methods.

Findings

Identified phase transitions between free-flow, synchronized, and jam phases.

Hysteresis loop observed in flux behavior during density changes.

Proposed local velocity-based interactions facilitate jam dissolution.

Abstract

We use a cellular automata approach to numerically investigate traffic flow patterns on a single lane. The free-flow phase (F), the synchronized phase (S), and the jam phase (J) are observed and the transitions among them are studied as the vehicular density $\rho$ is slowly varied. If $\rho$ is decreased from well inside the J phase, the flux $\Phi$ follows the lower branch of the hysteresis loop, implying that the adiabatic decrease of $\rho$ is not an efficient way to put the system back into S or F phases. We propose a simple way to help the system to escape out of J phase, which is based on the local information of the velocities of downstream vehicles.