Time-Space Route Planning for Traffic Congestion Avoidance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional navigation systems fail to optimize routes by considering the time dimension and the impact of other vehicles on road networks, leading to traffic congestion and inefficiencies, as they primarily focus on shortest distance or fastest time without accounting for dynamic traffic changes and vehicle availability at intersections.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that incorporate a time dimension into route planning by analyzing the availability of nodes in a road network, using a three-dimensional model to represent routes in space and time, ensuring minimal time separation between vehicle passages through intersections, and dynamically adjusting routes based on real-time traffic data and vehicle probe information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If navigation systems provide routes according to shortest distance or fastest time, then route efficiency is improved, but traffic congestion occurs at intersections and along routes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent adds a time dimension to the traditional two-dimensional spatial route planning, creating a three-dimensional time-space route model. This allows the system to schedule vehicle passages through intersections by considering not only the spatial path but also the temporal sequence, thereby distributing traffic flow across different time slots and reducing congestion at intersections while maintaining route efficiency.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If navigation systems reroute vehicles around congestion, then current congestion is avoided, but new congestion occurs on alternative routes
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements a feedback mechanism where route assignments are dynamically adjusted based on the scheduled time-space occupancy of intersections. When a route is assigned, the system updates the availability of intersections along that route, preventing other vehicles from being assigned to the same time slots. This feedback loop ensures that congestion is distributed across multiple routes and time periods rather than concentrating on alternative routes, maintaining overall system efficiency.
3Productivity
If multiple vehicles use the same route simultaneously, then route utilization is improved, but collision risks and delays increase at intersections
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary scheduling of vehicle passages through intersections by establishing time windows for each intersection's availability. Before vehicles are assigned routes, the system calculates and reserves time slots for intersection usage, ensuring that multiple vehicles can utilize the same route without conflicting at intersections. This preliminary action prevents collisions and delays while maintaining high route utilization by coordinating vehicle movements in advance.
Data Source
AI summary
A method is provided for generating a route from an origin to a destination factoring in the time dimension. Methods may include: receiving an indication of an origin and a destination; determining potential routes from the origin to the destination, where each route includes a sequence of nodes with road segments in between; determining, for each sequence of nodes, an anticipated time at which point each node in the sequence would be reached by a vehicle traveling along the respective route; determining, for each sequence of nodes, the availability of each node in the sequence at the anticipated time each node in the sequence would be reached; and establishing a recommended route between the origin and the destination according to the availability of each of the sequence of nodes in the sequence at the time each node in the sequence would be reached.