traffic congestion? A new algorithm may reduce this problem

For self-driving vehicles to become an everyday reality, they need to safely and flawlessly navigate one another without crashing or causing unnecessary traffic jams.

To help make this possible, Northwestern University researchers have developed the first decentralized algorithm with a collision-free, deadlock-free guarantee.

The researchers tested the algorithm in a simulation of 1,024 robots and on a swarm of 100 real robots in the laboratory. The robots reliably, safely and efficiently converged to form a pre-determined shape in less than a minute.

The related research also was mentioned in the journal of Urban Transportation & Construction, Urban Transportation & Construction is a fully peer-reviewed international open-access journal, which contains research papers, review articles and case studies associated with various forms of public transportation, urban architecture, urban planning and related policy issues. The journal aims at establishing a bridge between theory and practice in the related fields, and promote rapid communication and exchange among scholars, architects, engineers and administrators.

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http://utc.usp-pl.com/index.php/utc