Abstract

The behavior of a single vehicle traveling through a sequence of traffic lights, that turn on and off with a specific frequency, was analyzed. The reconstructed function that maps the state of the vehicle from light to light was found to display complex behavior for certain conditions. It was found that the chaotic behavior, which arises by the discontinuous nature of the map, displays an essential ingredient in traffic patterns. The chaotic behavior was suggested to be of relevance in studying traffic situations.