CHRT: Clustering-based hybrid re-routing system for traffic congestion avoidance

Re-routing system has become an important technology to improve traffic efficiency. The traditional re-routing schemes do not consider the dynamic characteristics of urban traffic, making the planned routes unable to cope with the changing traffic conditions. Based on real-time traffic information, it is challenging to dynamically re-route connected vehicles to alleviate traffic congestion. Moreover, how to obtain global traffic information while reducing communication costs and improving travel efficiency poses a challenge to the re-routing system. To deal with these challenges, this paper proposes CHRT, a clustering-based hybrid re-routing system for traffic congestion avoidance. CHRT develops a multi-layer hybrid architecture. The central server accesses the global view of traffic, and the distributed part is composed of vehicles divided into clusters to reduce latency and communication overhead. Then, a clustering-based priority mechanism is proposed, which sets priorities for clusters based on real-time traffic information to avoid secondary congestion. Furthermore, to plan the optimal routes for vehicles while alleviating global traffic congestion, this paper presents a multi-metric re-routing algorithm. Through extensive simulations based on the SUMO traffic simulator, CHRT reduces vehicle traveling time, fuel consumption, and CO
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emissions compared to other systems. In addition, CHRT globally alleviates traffic congestion and improves traffic efficiency.