Inspired by the similarity between vehicle interactions and particle interactions, a mechanical system with force elements is introduced to simulate a vehicle’s acceleration behavior in a multilane traffic flow. On the basis of Newton’s second law of motion, a subject vehicle’s longitudinal behavior is simulated with the interaction force induced by the neighboring vehicles and the driver’s driving preference. Five important factors—( a) subject vehicle’s speed, ( b) acceleration sensitivity, ( c) safety consideration, ( d) relative speed sensitivity, and ( e) gap-reducing desire—are considered; each is modeled by a force element. A recently developed data collection system is used to capture the testing driver’s acceleration behavior; the model parameters are calibrated with the traveler’s driving behavior. To demonstrate the present model, a microscopic simulation program was developed with MATLAB. The simulated trajectories not only describe a driver’s acceleration behavior in common scenarios but also accurately present complex, high-order behavior during multifaceted scenarios, such as lane changing or lead gap changing. The present model can be applied to single-lane and multilane car-following scenarios with the same algorithm.
Mechanics-Based Acceleration Modeling of Multilane Traffic Flow
Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board
Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board ; 2622 , 1 ; 117-124
2017-01-01
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
Stochastic model for multilane traffic flow
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