Development of a Microscopic Driver-Vehicle Model Using a Control Theory Approach

Abstract

It is proposed a new microscopic driver-vehicle model derived from a set of assumptions on driver’s behaviour through a control systems theory approach. It is assumed driver’s actions, in the throttle-brake pedal set, result from a cascade control structure regulating both velocity and distance to the preceding vehicle. The goal is to develop a model for each driver-vehicle pair, where each parameter has a logical meaning and a methodology for selecting its value, while maintaining them computationally simple. This attribute allows simulating a large collection of driver-vehicle pairs with a set of specific characteristics. A methodology to select the model parameters is presented. Moreover, this paper presents a steady-state analysis of the microscopic model to represent the corresponding traffic flow fundamental diagram according to the selected probability distribution for the models’ parameters.