Balanced Traffic Routing

Current navigation systems foster drivers by providing the fastest route, which incurs selfish routing. It is well-known however, that this approach does not necessarily lead to the system optimum in terms of minimizing the global travel time for all drivers. This work addresses on how to mitigate urban congestion through system-optimal based routing by offering drivers the option to choose routes that reduce the global driving time, whereas some drivers sacrifice their own short routes for the benefit of the “community.” Along with an incentivized strategy for drivers to receive rewards for their routing altruism, this approach helps build a friendly traffic ecosystem and ideally lead the traffic system to its system optimum. Implementation and performance evaluations have been conducted by using real data from over 26,000 taxis. The results demonstrated that system-optimal based routing reduces traffic congestion and average travel time at various traffic densities and system penetration rates. Less time on the road leads to less pollution and thus, a better well-being for the population.