New method of traffic flow forecasting based on quantum particle swarm optimization strategy for intelligent transportation system

Summary Traffic flow forecasting is one of the essential means to realize smart cities and smart transportation. The accurate and effective prediction will provide an important basis for decision‐making in smart transportation systems. This paper proposes a new method of traffic flow forecasting based on quantum particle swarm optimization (QPSO) strategy for intelligent transportation system (ITS). We establish a corresponding model based on the characteristics of the traffic flow data. The genetic simulated annealing algorithm is applied to the quantum particle swarm algorithm to obtain the optimized initial cluster center, and is applied to the parameter optimization of the radial basis neural network prediction model. The function approximation of radial basis neural network is used to obtain the required data. In addition, in order to compare the performance of the algorithms, a comparison study with other related algorithms such as QPSO radial basis function (QPSO‐RBF) is also performed. Simulation results show that compared with other algorithms, the proposed algorithm can reduce prediction errors and get better and more stable prediction results.