Exact results for deterministic cellular automata traffic models

Abstract

We present a rigorous derivation of the flow at arbitrary time in a deterministic cellular automaton model of traffic flow. The derivation employs regularities in preimages of blocks of zeros, reducing the problem of preimage enumeration to a well-known lattice path counting problem. Assuming infinite lattice size and random initial configuration, the flow can be expressed in terms of generalized hypergeometric function. We show that the steady-state limit agrees with previously published results.