Comparative assessment of intervehicular communication algorithms for real-time traffic route guidance

This article presents two algorithms for intervehicular communication (IVC)-based route guidance in a traffic network. The first algorithm enables communication between a searcher vehicle and other vehicles traveling the network in the opposite direction of the searcher vehicle. The second algorithm enables sharing information among the searcher vehicle and other vehicles traveling in the same direction and within a specific communication range. The mathematical formulations of the two algorithms are presented. A microscopic simulation model is utilized to assess the effectiveness of these algorithms against the well-known shortest path algorithm. Travel time and network productivity are used as the measures of performance. The overall network performance is captured under various congestion levels and link speeds and lengths. Two distinct methods are used in assessment: free simulation runs to evaluate the network productivity under various communication schemes and forced simulation runs to estimate the network travel while fixing the network productivity under various communication schemes.