[2602.10234] Transforming Policy-Car Swerving for Mitigating Stop-and-Go Traffic Waves: A Practice-Oriented Jam-Absorption Driving Strategy
Summary
This article presents a novel driving strategy to mitigate stop-and-go traffic waves using a jam-absorption technique inspired by police-car maneuvers, aiming to enhance traffic efficiency and safety.
Why It Matters
Stop-and-go traffic waves are a significant issue affecting road safety and emissions. This research proposes a practical solution that could be implemented in real-world scenarios, potentially transforming traffic management and improving overall driving conditions.
Key Takeaways
- The proposed strategy, SVDD-JAD, aims to suppress stop-and-go waves effectively.
- Key parameters influencing the strategy include JAD speed and wave characteristics.
- The approach is based on real-world observations, enhancing its practical applicability.
- Simulation results indicate successful wave suppression without secondary wave generation.
- The research promotes reproducibility by open-sourcing related code.
Physics > Physics and Society arXiv:2602.10234 (physics) [Submitted on 10 Feb 2026 (v1), last revised 12 Feb 2026 (this version, v2)] Title:Transforming Policy-Car Swerving for Mitigating Stop-and-Go Traffic Waves: A Practice-Oriented Jam-Absorption Driving Strategy Authors:Zhengbing He View a PDF of the paper titled Transforming Policy-Car Swerving for Mitigating Stop-and-Go Traffic Waves: A Practice-Oriented Jam-Absorption Driving Strategy, by Zhengbing He View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract:Stop-and-go waves, as a major form of freeway traffic congestion, cause severe and long-lasting adverse effects, including reduced traffic efficiency, increased driving risks, and higher vehicle emissions. Amongst the highway traffic management strategies, jam-absorption driving (JAD), in which a dedicated vehicle performs "slow-in" and "fast-out" maneuvers before being captured by a stop-and-go wave, has been proposed as a potential method for preventing the propagation of such waves. However, most existing JAD strategies remain impractical mainly due to the lack of discussion regarding implementation vehicles and operational conditions. Inspired by real-world observations of police-car swerving behavior, this paper first introduces a Single-Vehicle Two-Detector Jam-Absorption Driving (SVDD-JAD) problem, and then proposes a practical JAD strategy that transforms such behavior into a maneuver capable of suppressing the propagation of an isolated stop-and-go wave. Five key parameter...