Quantitative explanation of circuit experiments and real traffic using the optimal velocity model

Abstract

We have experimentally confirmed that the occurrence of a traffic jam is a dynamical phase transition (Tadaki et al 2013 New J. Phys. 15 103034, Sugiyama et al 2008 New J. Phys. 10 033001). In this study, we investigate whether the optimal velocity (OV) model can quantitatively explain the results of experiments. The occurrence and non-occurrence of jammed flow in our experiments agree with the predictions of the OV model. We also propose a scaling rule for the parameters of the model. Using this rule, we obtain critical density as a function of a single parameter. The obtained critical density is consistent with the observed values for highway traffic.