Skip to main content

Aimsun enters partnership to develop tool for managing mixed-autonomy traffic

Aimsun has partnered with UC Berkeley’s Institute of Transportation Studies to develop Flow, a tool for managing large-scale traffic systems where human-driven and autonomous vehicles (AVs) operate together. Flow offers a suite of pre-built traffic scenarios and is now integrated with Aimsun Next mobility modelling software. The open source architecture knits together microsimulation tools with deep reinforcement learning libraries in the cloud. Launched last September, Flow allows users to build and
January 15, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

16 Aimsun has partnered with UC Berkeley’s Institute of Transportation Studies to develop Flow, a tool for managing large-scale traffic systems where human-driven and autonomous vehicles (AVs) operate together.

Flow offers a suite of pre-built traffic scenarios and is now integrated with Aimsun Next mobility modelling software. The open source architecture knits together microsimulation tools with deep reinforcement learning libraries in the cloud.

Launched last September, Flow allows users to build and combine modular traffic scenarios to tackle complex situations, the company says. For example, single-lane/multi-lane and merge building blocks can be used to study stop-and-go merging traffic behaviours along a highway.  

“In mixed-autonomy traffic control, evaluating machine learning methods is challenging due to the lack of standardised benchmarks,” says Alexandre Bayen, director, 8895 ITS Berkeley. “Systematic evaluation and comparison will not only further our understanding of the strengths of existing algorithms but also reveal their limitations and suggest directions for future research.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Hard shoulder running aids uniform traffic flow and safer driving
    January 23, 2012
    David Crawford detects a market for European experience. Well-established now in at least three European countries, Hard Shoulder Running (HSR) on motorways is exciting growing interest in the US. A November 2010 Report to Congress by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), on the Efficient Use of Highway Capacity, notes the role of HSR in the European-style Active Traffic Management (ATM) strategies now being recommended for implementation in the US where, until recently, they were virtually unknown.
  • How C/AVs could serve rural communities
    July 23, 2019
    In Ireland, there is low population density and a lot of rain – which can make last-mile journeys a trial. Orla O’Halloran at Arup has some thoughts on how C/AVs could serve rural communities Connected and autonomous vehicles (C/AVs) have the potential to be a vital link for people in rural communities, as part of a wider Mobility as a Service (MaaS) solution. That is the view of Orla O’Halloran, intelligent mobility consultant at Arup. She believes that MaaS needs to be considered in conjunction with ot
  • US Cities push for smarter poles
    June 25, 2018
    US Cities The need to connect existing infrastructure has led various US transit authorities into imaginative alleyways: David Crawford examines some new roles for street furniture. US cities are vying with each other in developing schemes to create a new generation of connected places. Their strategies include taking advantage of their streetlight poles’ height and ubiquity to give them new roles in supporting intelligent nodes. They are now being equipped for collecting real-time data on key transport
  • Passport roundtable examines London’s kerb space priorities
    March 19, 2019
    UK congestion is getting worse, in part due to the influx of deliveries coming into cities. At a roundtable discussion in London, software provider Passport examined new ways in which local authorities can work together to better manage the kerb. Ben Spencer listens in Competition for kerb space is one of the major conundrums of modern urban mobility. Some authorities are being creative about it, but good practice is not widespread. “There are individual pockets of good work going on with cities who a