A Study on Highway Traffic Flow Optimization using Partial Velocity Synchronization

In this paper we present a study of highway traffic flow optimization using Partial Velocity Synchronization (PVS). PVS is a Cellular Automaton (CA) model that is extended by a communication layer providing the ability to exchange relevant information between vehicles. We show that it is possible to enhance traffic flow on highways significantly with a small number of velocity recommendations computed from the traffic conditions ahead. Furthermore we show that only a limited number of hops in an information chain is necessary to reschedule the vehicles on a given highway segment to avoid the formation of shockwaves. Our results show that traffic flow will be increased while travel time and emissions will be reduced dramatically.