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.