Universal Traffic Management System (UTMS) and Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department are planning to implement an interactive Centrally Determined Route Guidance (CDRG) system in Tokyo. The system selects a recommended route using link travel time data, which is acquired by the traffic control system. UTMS constructed a trial CDRG system on major roads in central Tokyo, and successfully conducted a first-step field test in Autumn 1996 and a second-step test in February 1997. This paper reports on the second-step field and simulation tests, where the system's performance was evaluated with vehicles running in the trial area, guided by different methods. A computer simulation of the route guidance method was conducted to verify its performance comprehensively, because such verification would have been difficult in the field test; their results showed the superiority of the method used. The trial used five groups of the following vehicle types: (1) those driving under guidance from the CDRG system; (2) those driven by human judgement with congestion information from VICS; (3) those driving according to an experienced taxi driver's judgement; and (4) those driving under the guidance of an autonomous in-vehicle unit with the shortest distance route selection method. CDRG vehicles drove in the shortest time on average.
Abstract