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Ants never overtake, have smart traffic sense, could solve urban transport challenges


A new study suggests that the traffic flow of ants could provide valuable insights for solving urban transportation problems.

Professors from the University of Trento have studied ant behavior to understand how these insects navigate efficiently without stop-and-go disruptions, even in large groups, with findings recently published in Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives. “From ants walking on a pheromone trail to vehicles driving in a highway lane, the main challenge for all collective systems is to avoid congestion at high densities in crowded environments,” the researchers noted in the study. This would allow them to move at high speeds with close spacing across parallel lanes, improving traffic efficiency, service levels, and reducing gas emissions.

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