For instance, in the case of Lausanne, more than 12,000 individual drivers are simulated. But the complexity of such models makes them computationally intensive. Some cities currently make use of these high-resolution simulators, known as microscopic simulators: Behavior down to the level of individual drivers is simulated to estimate the impact of a given timing pattern. In detailed simulations of Lausanne’s traffic, they found that the timings produced by their approach reduced the average travel time for commuters by 22 percent, compared with timings generated by commercial traffic-light timing software. Their approach uses high-resolution traffic simulators that describe, in detail, the behavior of drivers in response to changes in travel conditions. The new optimization process developed by Osorio and graduate student Linsen Chong can time traffic lights in large urban areas while accounting for the complex and diverse reactions of individual drivers. Such an expansive aim triggers complications, such as the ripple effect that a change at one intersection can produce across the surrounding area, or changes in driver behavior following changes in traffic-light patterns: For example, if wait times on a particular route increase, drivers may seek alternative routes that feature fewer red lights. What is less done, and is more difficult to do, is when you look at a broader scale, in this case the city of Lausanne, and you want to change signal times at intersections distributed across the entire city, with the objective of trying to improve conditions across the entire city.” “You define one intersection, or maybe a set of intersections along an arterial, and you fine-tune or optimize the traffic lights there. “Usually in practice, when you want to time traffic lights, traditionally it’s been done in a local way,” Osorio says. She is lead author of a forthcoming paper in the journal Transportation Science that describes the new system, based on a study of traffic in Lausanne, Switzerland. Now, researchers at MIT have developed a means of computing optimal timings for city stoplights that can significantly reduce drivers’ average travel times.Įxisting software for timing traffic signals has several limitations, says Carolina Osorio, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at MIT. Anyone who has ever driven a city street and been frustrated by having to stop again and again for red lights has probably thought that there must be a better way.
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