Comparison of Car-following models

Traffic simulation is an often used tool in the study of traffic systems. A traffic simulation model consists of several sub-models; each handles one specific task in the simulation. These sub-models include, among others, car-following. This model controls the interactions with the preceding vehicle in the same lane. This paper compares and describes the car-following models used in the four traffic microsimulation software packages AIMSUN, MITSIM, VISSIM, and the Fritzsche car-following model. A variant of the Fritzsche model is used in the software tool Parmics. Paramics exists in two versions. The differences between the Car-following models used in these versions and the Fritzsche carfollowing model is however unknown. Both similarities and differences between the models as well as model’s individual properties are clarified. Two of the four models, the Fritzsche model and the model included in VISSIM, have a similar approach to car-following, whereas the other two models have fundamentally different approaches. However, the resulting following behaviors of the models show similarities even though the carfollowing approaches are different. ISSN: Language: No. of pages: 0347-6049 English 36 + 2 Appendices Utgivare: Publikation: VTI meddelande 960A Utgivningsår: 2004 Projektnummer: 40503 och 40485 581 95 Linköping Projektnamn: Vidareutveckling av VTI:s trafiksimuleringsmodell för landsväg och simulerad trafik till VTI:s körsimulator Författare: Uppdragsgivare: Johan Janson Olstam och Andreas Tapani Vägverket Titel: Jämförelse av car-followingmodeller