AN APPLICATION OF GAME THEORY TO ROUTE SELECTION

THE PROBLEM OF ALTERNATE ROUTE SELECTION IS ANALYZED AS A 2-PERSON GAME AGAINST NATURE. BY USING DATA ON GALVANIC SKIN RESPONSE, A PAYOFF FUNCTION IS FORMULATED IN TERMS OF DRIVER TENSION. DRIVER TENSION INCREASES WITH TRAFFIC VOLUME ON A FREEWAY BUT IS PRACTICALLY INDEPENDENT OF TRAFFIC VOLUME ON AN ARTERIAL STREET. A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM IS GIVEN UNDER 4 DIFFERENT CRITERIA FOR GAMES AGAINST NATURE. IF A FREEWAY ROUTE AND AN ALTERNATE ROUTE ON AN ARTERIAL STREET ARE EQUAL IN LENGTH, THE HURWICZ ALPHA INDEX INDICATES THAT A DRIVER SHOULD NOT SELECT THE FREEWAY UNLESS HE IS AT LEAST 62 PERCENT SURE OF FINDING GOOD TRAFFIC CONDITIONS. APPLICATION OF THE MINIMAX-REGRET PRINCIPLE YIELDS A DIVERSION CURVE THAT INDICATES THAT ALL DRIVERS SHOULD SELECT THE FREEWAY FOR A DISTANCE RATIO LESS THAN 0.48, 38 PERCENT SHOULD SELECT THE FREEWAY FOR A DISTANCE RATIO OF 1.00, AND NO DRIVERS SHOULD TAKE THE FREEWAY IF THE DISTANCE RATIO EXCEEDS 2.94. IF THE DRIVER CAN ESTIMATE A PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION FOR THE STATES OF FREEWAY TRAFFIC, HIS OPTIMUM STRATEGY CAN BE FOUND BY LINEAR PROGRAMMING. A CRITERION IS SUGGESTED FOR EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A DRIVER-INFORMATION SYSTEM IN TERMS OF THE REGRET ASSOCIATED WITH THIS OPTIMUM STRATEGY AND THE MINIMAX REGRET PERTAINING TO THE CASE OF COMPLETE UNCERTAINTY. /AUTHOR/

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/hrr/1970/334/334-005.pdf
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Paper sponsored by Committee on Theory of Traffic Flow. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
• Authors:
  • COLONY, DAVID C
• Publication Date: 1970

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 39-47
• Monograph Title: Traffic flow theory
• Serial:
  • Highway Research Record
  • Issue Number: 334
  • Publisher: Highway Research Board

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Behavior; Driver performance; Drivers; Freeways; Galvanic skin response; Game theory; Personnel performance; Route choice; Stresses; Tension; Traffic volume
• Old TRIS Terms: Driver psychology
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00227308
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Jun 11 1971 12:00AM