New full velocity difference model considering the driver’s heterogeneity of the disturbance risk preference for car-following theory

Abstract

This paper proposes a new full velocity difference model considering the driver’s heterogeneity of the disturbance risk preference for car-following theory to investigate the effects of the driver’s heterogeneity of the disturbance risk preference on traffic flow instability when the driver reacts to the relative velocity. We obtain traffic flow instability condition and the calculation method of the unstable region headway range and the probability of traffic congestion caused by a small disturbance. The analysis shows that has important effects the driver’s heterogeneity of the disturbance risk preference on traffic flow instability: (1) traffic flow instability is independent of the absolute size of the driver’s disturbance risk preference coefficient and depends on the ratio of the preceding vehicle driver’s disturbance risk preference coefficient to the following vehicle driver’s disturbance risk preference coefficient; (2) the smaller the ratio of the preceding vehicle driver’s disturbance risk preference coefficient to the following vehicle driver’s disturbance risk preference coefficient, the smaller traffic flow instability and vice versa. It provides some viable ideas to suppress traffic congestion.