Methods and systems for estimating lane-level traffic jam using lane change signals of connected vehicles

1 . A system comprising:

one or more processors programmed to:

obtain information on lane changes of a plurality vehicles in a road section including a traffic jam section, the road section including a plurality of lanes;

collect driving data of the vehicles after the lane changes;

estimate lane-level traffic jam distribution of the plurality of lanes based on the information on the lane changes and the driving data;

transmit the lane-level traffic jam distribution to vehicles approaching the traffic jam section; and

obtain information that a vehicle of the plurality vehicles in the road section including the traffic jam section moved to a right lane;

obtain information that the vehicle of the plurality vehicles in the road section including the traffic jam section accelerated after moving to the right lane;

in response to obtaining the information that the vehicle of the plurality vehicles in the road section including the traffic jam section moved to the right lane and obtaining the information that the vehicle of the plurality vehicles in the road section including the traffic jam section accelerated after moving to the right lane, increase a probability of traffic jam in a leftmost lane of the plurality of lanes; and

control a vehicle that is other than the plurality vehicles in the road section including the traffic jam section to avoid the leftmost lane of the plurality of lanes.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the lane-level traffic jam distribution includes a probability of traffic jam in each of the plurality of lanes.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further programmed to:

obtain information that no vehicle in the traffic jam moved to a left lane and accelerated during a predetermined period of time; and

increase the probability of traffic jam in the leftmost lane of the plurality of lanes based on the information that no vehicle in the traffic jam moved to a left lane and accelerated during the predetermined period of time.

4 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the one or more processors are further programmed to:

identify a vehicle in a traffic jam;

obtain information that the vehicle moved to a left lane and accelerated; and

increase the probability of traffic jam in a rightmost lane of the plurality of lanes based on the information that the vehicle moved to the left lane and accelerated.

5 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the one or more processors are further programmed to:

identify a first vehicle and a second vehicle in a traffic jam;

obtain information that the first vehicle moved to a left lane and accelerated;

obtain information that the second vehicle moved to the right lane and accelerated; and

increase the probability of traffic jam in one or more middle lanes of the plurality of lanes based on the information that the first vehicle moved to the left lane and accelerated and the second vehicle moved to the right lane and accelerated.

6 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the one or more processors are further programmed to:

identify a vehicle not in a traffic jam;

obtain information that the vehicle moved to a left lane and decelerated; and

increase the probability of traffic jam in the leftmost lane of the plurality of lanes based on the information that the vehicle moved to the left lane and decelerated.

7 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the one or more processors are programmed to:

identify a vehicle not in a traffic jam;

obtain information that the vehicle moved to the right lane and decelerated; and

increase the probability of traffic jam in a rightmost lane of the plurality of lanes based on the information that the vehicle moved to the right lane and decelerated.

8 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the one or more processors are programmed to:

identify a first vehicle and a second vehicle not in a traffic jam;

obtain information that the first vehicle moved to a left lane and decelerated;

obtain information that the second vehicle moved to the right lane and decelerated; and

increase the probability of traffic jam in one or more middle lanes of the plurality of lanes based on the information that the first vehicle moved to the left lane and decelerated and the second vehicle moved to the right lane and decelerated.

9 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the one or more processors are programmed to:

obtain a number of lane changes by a vehicle before the vehicle enters a traffic jam;

obtain a number of lane changes by the vehicle after the vehicle enters the traffic jam; and

adjust the lane-level traffic jam distribution based on the number of lane changes by the vehicle before the vehicle enters the traffic jam and the number of lane changes by the vehicle after the vehicle enters the traffic jam.

10 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the one or more processors are programmed to:

identify a vehicle in a traffic jam;

obtain a number of lane changes by the vehicle after being in the traffic jam and a direction of the lane changes; and

adjust the lane-level traffic jam distribution based on the number of lane changes by the vehicle after being in the traffic jam and the direction of the lane changes.

11 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the one or more processors are programmed to:

identify a first vehicle and a second vehicle in a traffic jam;

obtain a number of lane changes to a left direction by the first vehicle after being in the traffic jam;

obtain a number of lane changes to a right direction by the second vehicle after being in the traffic jam; and

adjust the lane-level traffic jam distribution based on the number of lane changes to the left direction by the first vehicle after being in the traffic jam and the number of lane changes to the right direction by the second vehicle after being in the traffic jam.

12 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the driving data includes acceleration or deceleration of the vehicles.

13 . A method for determining a lane-level traffic jam, the method comprising:

obtaining information on lane changes of a plurality of vehicles in a road section including a traffic jam section, the road section including a plurality of lanes;

collecting driving data of the vehicles after the lane changes;

estimating lane-level traffic jam distribution of the plurality of lanes based on the information on the lane changes and the driving data;

identifying a lane with a traffic jam based on the lane-level traffic jam distribution;

transmitting information on the identified lane to vehicles approaching the traffic jam section;

obtaining information that a vehicle of the plurality vehicles in the road section including the traffic jam section moved to a right lane;

obtaining information that the vehicle of the plurality vehicles in the road section including the traffic jam section accelerated after moving to the right lane;

in response to obtaining the information that the vehicle of the plurality vehicles in the road section including the traffic jam section moved to the right lane and obtaining the information that the vehicle of the plurality vehicles in the road section including the traffic jam section accelerated after moving to the right lane, increasing a probability of traffic jam in a leftmost lane of the plurality of lanes; and

controlling a vehicle that is other than the plurality vehicles in the road section including the traffic jam section to avoid the leftmost lane of the plurality of lane.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the lane-level traffic jam distribution includes a probability of traffic jam in each of the plurality of lanes.

15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

identifying a first vehicle and a second vehicle in a traffic jam;

obtaining information that the first vehicle moved to a left lane and accelerated;

obtaining information that the second vehicle moved to a right lane and accelerated; and

increasing the probability of traffic jam in one or more middle lanes of the plurality of lanes based on the information that the first vehicle moved to the left lane and accelerated and the second vehicle moved to the right lane and accelerated.

16 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

identifying a vehicle not in a traffic jam;

obtaining information that the vehicle moved to a left lane and decelerated; and

increasing the probability of traffic jam in a leftmost lane of the plurality of lanes based on the information that the vehicle moved to the left lane and decelerated.

17 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

identifying a first vehicle and a second vehicle not in a traffic jam;

obtaining information that the first vehicle moved to a left lane and decelerated;

obtaining information that the second vehicle moved to a right lane and decelerated; and

increasing the probability of traffic jam in one or more middle lanes of the plurality of lanes based on the information that the first vehicle moved to the left lane and decelerated and the second vehicle moved to the right lane and decelerated.

18 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

obtaining a number of lane changes by a vehicle before the vehicle enters a traffic jam;

obtaining a number of lane changes by the vehicle after the vehicle enters the traffic jam; and

adjusting the lane-level traffic jam distribution based on the number of lane changes by the vehicle before the vehicle enters the traffic jam and the number of lane changes by the vehicle after the vehicle enters the traffic jam.