Finding Energy-Efficient and Fast Detour Routes in Unusual Traffic Events

This study addresses the issue of finding detour routes when an unusual traffic event occurs. An “unusual traffic event” refers to, for example, abrupt traffic congestion, accidents, regulation, or sporting events. In such a situation, the optimal route in terms of trip time as well as fuel consumption may differ from the normal route. It is important to identify the optimal route in intelligent vehicles and systems to exploit any room for improvement in traffic flow and to reduce travel time and fuel consumption. We empirically find such detour routes in the Metropolitan Expressway in Japan using a real driving dataset collected by the Toyota Motor Corporation.