Modelling road traffic behavior via game theory

Abstract

In this world of rapid innovations in information technology, traffic information is a very useful tool to minimize the travel time for commuters. The increasing workforce population has made it necessary to manage road traffic especially in the case of intra-city travel. People using specific routes to minimize their travel time to reach the workplace often rely on traffic information via google maps or their experience about well-known routes in the city. Some other factors impacting the choice of the route are the availability of alternative transport like metros, distance, time of travel, destination, travel mode, infrastructure quality, perceived safety of the routes, etc. The game-theoretic approach has been used to model the traffic behavior of commuters to understand the decision-making process while deciding the route to travel. Several models have been developed using both cooperative and non-cooperative game theory for the driving behavior say picking up routes, lane changing models, etc. Through this project, we aim to study the various game-theoretic models e.g., perceived subjective least effort, lane changing behavior, etc. Our objective is to apply these concepts for optimal toll-pricing for traffic distribution.