Using Human Information Processing Principles to Design Advanced Traveler Information Systems

Modeling the benefits of advanced traveler information systems in corridors with incidents

Suppose that in an urban transportation network there is a specific advanced traveler information system (ATIS) which acts for reducing the drivers' travel time uncertainty through provision of pre‐trip route information. Because of the imperfect information provided, some travelers are not in compliance with the ATIS advice although equipped with the device. We thus divide all travelers into three groups, one group unequipped with ATIS, another group equipped and in compliance with ATIS advice and the third group equipped but without compliance with the advice. Each traveler makes route choice in a logit‐based manner and a stochastic user equilibrium with multiple user classes is reached for every day. In this paper, we propose a model to investigate the evolutions of daily path travel time, daily ATIS compliance rate and yearly ATIS adoption, in which the equilibrium for every day's route choice is kept. The stability of the evolution model is initially analyzed. Numerical results obtained from a test network are presented for demonstrating the model's ability in depicting the day‐to‐day and year‐to‐year evolutions.

Speech recognition technology has potential for application to intelligent transportation systems (ITS) in the area of advanced traveler information systems (ATIS). ATIS areas which can greatly benefit from speech recognition are: pre-trip traffic information; en-route traffic information; route guidance; ride matching and reservation; transit information services; and traffic and transit management control centers. This paper concentrates on telephony applications of speech recognition to two ATIS applications, real-time traffic information and public transit information. We first discuss the general considerations involved in development of a multiline speech interface to a traffic or transit database, including system architecture and sizing, and the development of dialogs and grammars which are user friendly and efficient. We then discuss two prototype applications of this technology using BBN's HARK speaker-independent speech recognition product. The first is to SmartRoute System's SmarTraveler traveler information system, which was an FHWA Operational Test, and the second to Montgomery County Maryland's public transit system. These were small scale tests to help us develop the technology required for full-scale implementations, but showed that the speech interface was practical, and provided much improved ease of use and performance over conventional touch tone based interactive voice response (IVR) systems.

The paper formulates risk taking behavior over general queing network with advanced traveler information systems (ATIS). It supposes that drivers equipped with ATIS will make their choices based on the complete information about travel time and its possible variations, while drivers without ATIS have to choose based on their past experience and subjective understandings. The mixed behavior time dependent equilibrium problem is formulated as a nonlinear complementarity problem and a heuristic route/time swapping approach is proposed to solve the problem. Also investigated is the implementation of ATIS on a toy network under varied values of market penetration.

This report describes the results of an on-road study that examined how Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS) information influences driver behavior. The objective of the study was to develop ATIS design guidelines, primarily for In-Vehicle Signing and Information Systems (ISIS) and In-Vehicle Safety Advisory and Warning Systems (IVSAWS), to define the amount and format of information that can safely be displayed in an ATIS. A general issue facing ATIS designers is to determine how much information can safely be presented in an ATIS. This study investigated rates of one, two, or three message presentations per minute. No effects of information density were observed on driving performance. Another general issue that faces ATIS designers is how message potency (i.e., message style and display modality) affects driving safety and compliance with ATIS messages. Message potency is shown to have an important effect on both compliance and driving safety, confirming previous findings on how particular ATIS design characteristics can undermine driving safety by fostering an over-reliance on ATIS information. Also investigated in this study was whether advance notification messages that warn drivers of upcoming route guidance instructions are helpful. The results show that the drivers make use of advance notification messages to prepare for upcoming turns.

Modeling of the Market Penetration of Advanced Traveler Information Systems Using a Mixed Network Equilibrium Model

Traveler-Oriented Advanced Traveler Information System based on Dynamic Discovery of Resources: Potentials and Challenges

The objective of this paper is to examine the assumption of "uniform market penetration" embedded in the existing evaluation studies of Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS), and to show that this assumption might possibly lead to underestimation of the benefits derived from ATIS. The assumption is then relaxed by endogenising market penetration of ATIS as a function of information benefit using a mixed equilibrium traffic assignment model. It is observed from the numerical experiments that the information benefit and the market penetration of ATIS depend strongly on the trip characteristic such as trip length; ignoring such an important factor may give rise to misleading results of ATIS performance.

An evaluation study of the Smart Traveler Automated Ridematching Service is reported. This advanced traveler information system (ATIS) demonstration used a fully automated Touch-Tone telephone system to offer real-time ride matching service for just 1 day or for conventional carpool arrangements. An innovative feature was an automated messaging system in which a computer was used to dial up and leave recorded messages with potential matches. The system failed to perform as intended, and problems were experienced with the generation of computer-based reports for monitoring purposes. The demonstration revealed a low level of use and a mismatch with the needs of the market. Lessons are drawn for future ATIS initiatives.

The Paso Del Norte region includes El Paso County (Texas), Dona Ana County (New Mexico), and Ciudad Juarez (Mexico) along the southwest border region between the United States and Mexico. With a combined population of more than 2 million, the city of El Paso (Texas) and Ciudad Juarez have an intertwined transportation system with one of the nation's busiest international borders. In response to growing transportation needs in this binational region, the Texas Transportation Institute established a new transportation research center in the city of El Paso. One of the many research initiatives identified at the early stages of the center's inception was to develop a mobility information system for the Paso Del Norte region. The goals of this regional mobility information system were to demonstrate the significance and benefits of archiving intelligent transportation system (ITS) data, build a centralized repository of transportation data, provide the ability to monitor regional and cross-border mobility, and provide a platform to adopt newer ITS technologies. The objectives of the regional mobility information system are to provide archived transportation data user services and an advanced traveler information system in the region. The regional mobility information system is the first of its kind in the region and has been well received by stakeholder agencies. The system has an extremely flexible and scalable database framework and uses the concept of data warehouse and database-centric architecture. As an advanced traveler information system, the system provides access to users’ information related to everyday travel through a single-window website.

An optimal global algorithm for route guidance in advanced traveler information systems

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of display modality, level of driver interaction, and amount of information on the driving performance and system operation performance of commercial drivers. Introducing any level of interaction with an Advanced Traveler Information System (ATIS) will probably result in some level of increased workload for the driver. However, it is possible that the increase in workload would not result in unsafe driving behavior. A secondary objective of this study was to determine at what level of ATIS task demand driving performance begins to degrade to the point of becoming unsafe. To test the impact of having commercial drivers operate a multi-function ATIS, a prototype display was developed that would provide a variety of tasks to be performed while driving. The prototype for this experiment consisted of baseline information that was always presented to the driver in addition to an underlying menu structure that allows the driver to perform more complex information retrieval functions. The baseline ATIS display used for both taxi and truck drivers was identical, while the underlying menu structures were different to reflect the different types of information the drivers might require or desire. The system was designed for use as a visual-only system or as a combination visual and auditory system. An auditory-only system was not tested because it was felt that any feasible system would include at least some visual elements. Based upon the results of this research, guidelines have been developed to aid in the design of ATIS.

As a subsystem of an Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), an Advanced Traveller Information System (ATIS) disseminates real-time traffic information to travellers. To help travellers better make their route choice decisions, there is a strong need to predict traffic congestion and disseminate the predicted congestion information to travellers. This paper offers some insights and predictions on how ATIS information provision is becoming more pervasive due to recent advances in telecommunication systems. The paper also discusses how ATIS systems will likely evolve based on the experiences of Information Service Providers (ISP) and ATIS modelling specialists. Then, it reviews four types of prediction models: 1) simulation models; 2) dynamic traffic assignment (DTA) models; 3) statistical models; and 4) heuristic models. The functional requirements and capabilities of the four types of prediction models are discussed and summarised. Furthermore, a comprehensive prediction procedure is presented, which combines the four types of prediction models.

The continuous growth of road traffic increases the delays that road users face and negatively affects the overall transportation system performance. Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS) may offer significant benefits in terms of improving the travel experience of individuals, but their impact on individuals' travel behavior and on the whole transportation system mainly depends on how travelers respond to the acquired traffic information. This article presents a case study on travelers' response to traffic information for the Puget Sound Region (PSRC). The data used come from travel diaries (collected in 2000), in which individuals were asked about the traveler information sources consulted on each trip and how the information was used. Traveler information sources, available in the region, encompass both conventional forms of information, such as radio traffic reports and advanced traveler information systems, for example, variable message signs (VMS) and websites. The objective of this study is to examine the impact of information acquisition on switching travel behavior. Two models have been estimated: a multinomial logit model (MNL) and a mixed multinomial logit model (MMNL) that accounts for correlation among observations from the same individuals in the data set. The estimated models show that travel pattern characteristics, the time of information acquisition (pretrip vs. en-route), the source, and the content of provided information significantly affect commuters' response to information.

An emerging application of mobile computing and communication is the delivery of information related to the transportation system to drivers and travelers. Such real-time information would be very valuable in providing services such as pre-trip planning, route guidance, intermodal transportation, yellow pages, and ride matching and reservation. This so-called advanced traveler information system (ATIS) is an important subset of an intelligent transportation system (ITS). The authors are developing an ATIS operational field test called SWIFT (Seattle wide-area information for travelers) in the Seattle metropolitan area which uses technological advances in wireless communication, personal digital assistants (PDA), and traffic modeling and analysis. SWIFT uses an advanced 19 kbps FM subcarrier broadcast medium for the delivery of transportation information as well as personal paging information. Preliminary description of the logical and physical architecture of the SWIFT system along with communication loading analysis for this system, are presented.