Routing Profile Updating Strategies for Online Hybrid Dynamic Traffic Assignment Operation

An online routing profile updating automaton (ORPUA) approach is introduced as a principal mechanism for operating an online hybrid dynamic traffic assignment (DTA) system for real-time route guidance in a traffic network. The hybrid DTA approach integrates the centralized and the decentralized DTA frameworks by partitioning the set of guided users into two classes according to an initial routing profile (IRP). One class receives the centralized DTA guidance, while the other follows the decentralized DTA routing. ORPUA takes the a priori IRP and updates the guidance supplied to vehicles in a real-time fashion according to the unfolding network conditions and relative performance of the two classes of users. It does not anticipate the future network conditions; instead, it reacts to them and optimizes the overall system performance by improving the performance of the underperforming class of vehicles. Simulation experiments illustrate ORPUA's potential in maintaining desirable system performance and robustness in most of the demand-supply scenarios considered.