Ants as Traffic Gurus

In a recent issue of the Journal of Experimental Biology, entomologist Audrey Dussutour investigated the efficiency of ant traffic. Her team discovered that ants returning to the ant hill with food were given right of way from those ants without food. In addition, those ants without food tended to cluster behind the food-carrying ants rather than try to pass them. Dussotour found that this type of movement drastically decreased the average travel time for all of the ants involved.

This report is part of a recent tradition of studying ants for insight on how to optimize urban planning and design more efficient traffic systems. Ants, through their collective approach to movement, have shown how, “individual behaviors optimized to serve a collective good can ultimately benefit the individual as well.” In short, a collective approach to beating traffic is more efficient than an individual approach.

Human egoism is the biggest factor preventing ant-like efficiency. So, scientists are working to eliminate this by creating “collectively intelligent systems,” ones that control all car movements from a central location. The first step has been the creation of a system which provides real-time data for drivers. In the future, ants could inspire city planners to build more efficient transportation systems.