Cellular automaton traffic model considering driver’s reaction to velocity and headway distance with variable possibility of randomization

Abstract

Because of its simplicity and flexibility, cellular automaton model is widely used to simulate traffic flows. Based upon the NS (Nagel and Schreckenberg) Model, the paper proposes a cellular automaton model to simulate drivers’ reaction to velocity and headway distance in single lane traffic flow by modification of deceleration and randomization of the rules. Analysis of average velocity is performed to study the state and stability of traffic flow in various situations. For low densities, traffic is in free flow state, with average velocity fluctuating around the mathematical expectation stably. With the increasing of density, traffic becomes unstable and goes into jammed flow state. The behaviours of the model are very similar to those of the real traffic flows observed in the field. It is potential that the model can be used to predict traffic state for the engineering practice of traffic control and management.