Method and apparatus of lane-level road congestion application to enhance vehicle navigation

A method to incorporate road congestion for enhanced vehicle navigation, comprising:

• conducting an analysis of a current distribution of multiple vehicles in front of or proximate to a host vehicle traveling on a road having multiple vehicle lanes;
• assessing a vehicle clustering of at least one of the multiple vehicle lanes forward of the host vehicle;
• comparing results of the analysis and the vehicle clustering to a non-congested vehicle lane profile to distinguish a lane level distribution of the multiple vehicles in front of or proximate to the host vehicle;
• generating a prediction of at least one congested lane ahead of the host vehicle using the lane level distribution;
• carrying out a trade-off analysis providing an estimated travel time (TT) of the host vehicle to a predetermined destination including predicting a total quantity of lane change maneuvers required by the host vehicle to minimize interaction with the at least one congested lane until reaching the predetermined destination;
• directing a first or component A to issue a lane level congestion notification to a user or an operator of the host vehicle;
• providing a second or component B to perform lane level congestion-aware navigation;
• incorporating a third or component C to perform lane level load balancing;
• and
• including a fourth or component D directed to maintaining a lane level dynamic following distance, wherein component D includes:
• identifying at least one vehicle defining a lead actor vehicle ahead of the host vehicle moving slower than the host vehicle defining a slowdown of vehicle traffic;
• increasing a deceleration profile for the host vehicle based on a planned deceleration of the lead actor vehicle;
• operating sensors of the host vehicle to detect the lead actor vehicle;
• and
• initiating a deceleration of the host vehicle upon initial detection of the lead actor vehicle.