Patent ID: 8589073

Claim:
A method for distributed traffic navigation in a vehicular network, the vehicular networking comprising a plurality of road segments connected through a plurality of road junctions and a plurality of vehicles operating on the road segments, the method comprising steps of: at each vehicle entering the vehicular network: acquiring and storing information associated with the vehicular network; generating a destination address; and broadcasting the destination address as a route request; at each vehicle in the vehicular network: updating the stored information through communication with at least one communicable vehicle; and at each junction: selecting a header vehicle; the header vehicle listening for broadcasts to determine the presence of an existing matrix; the header vehicle initializing a new matrix based on the stored information of the header vehicle, when the existing matrix is not present; the header vehicle estimating travel time on the road segments based on the new matrix when the existing matrix is not present or based on the existing matrix when the existing matrix is present; the header vehicle computing a backlog indicator based on the travel time on the road segments and each route request from all vehicles; the header vehicle updating the new matrix when the existing matrix is not present or updating the existing matrix when the existing matrix is present, wherein the updating is based on the backlog indicator; the header vehicle generating a route and assigning a route to neighboring vehicles based on the updated matrix; and the header vehicle broadcasting the updated matrix.