The Myth of Traffic-Responsive Signal Control: Why Common Sense Does Not Always Make Sense.

Abstract

Intuitively, one is inclined to think that traffic-responsive signal control is the most efficient control policy. In this paper, however, we show that for an intersection of two routes connecting one origin-destination pair where only one route is subject to congestion, anticipatory signal control performs better than traffic-responsive signal control. Furthermore, the unfolded logic behind this result suggests that the superiority of anticipatory signal control also extends to other networks.

Keywords: anticipatory control, Stackelberg game, traffic-responsive control