Revisiting Street Intersections Using Slot-Based Systems

Abstract

Since their appearance at the end of the 19th century, traffic lights have been the primary mode of granting access to road intersections. Today, this centuries-old technology is challenged by advances in intelligent transportation, which are opening the way to new solutions built upon slot-based systems similar to those commonly used in aerial traffic: what we call Slot-based Intersections (SIs). Despite simulation-based evidence of the potential benefits of SIs, a comprehensive, analytical framework to compare their relative performance with traffic lights is still lacking. Here, we develop such a framework. We approach the problem in a novel way, by generalizing classical queuing theory. Having defined safety conditions, we characterize capacity and delay of SIs. In the 2-road crossing configuration, we provide a capacity-optimal SI management system. For arbitrary intersection configurations, near-optimal solutions are developed. Results theoretically show that transitioning from a traffic light system to SI has the potential of doubling capacity and significantly reducing delays. This suggests a reduction of non-linear dynamics induced by intersection bottlenecks, with positive impact on the road network. Such findings can provide transportation engineers and planners with crucial insights as they prepare to manage the transition towards a more intelligent transportation infrastructure in cities.

Deliberative Self-Organizing Traffic Lights with Elementary Cellular Automata

“…Considering the recent progress made in the development of autonomous vehicles [33,34], decentralized algorithms such as the ones presented here will be useful in the coordination of autonomous vehicles at intersections as well. …”

Dawn of autonomous vehicles: review and challenges ahead

“…Again, the advantages of these technologies are strongly dependent on their penetration rates. If all vehicles were autonomous, intersections could become fully smart, with traffic flowing in an interwoven way, for almost zero delay (Tachet et al, 2016). Since this situation is not expectable in the near future, research has been conducted on how to best harmonise intersection flow with incoming AVs and non-AVs (Yang and Monterola, 2016).…”

Review on Driverless Traffic from Management Perspective

“…Three organizations, including MIT, have jointly created Slot-Based Systems [20], which are similar to those commonly used in aerial traffic: (1) Based on welldesigned scheduling algorithm, the systems are able to allocate safe arrival time slots at cross areas to vehicles;(2) Vehicles control their speed to reach the intersection at the beginning of the assigned time slot, avoiding traffic conflicts and without stopping to wait. Both Slot-Based Systems and the above autonomous intersection model proposed by Arnaud focus on the interaction between vehicle and intersection controller.…”