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Home Courses Traffic Flow Theory and Simulation Course materials Lectures 09. Car-following: The basics by V.L. Knoop

09. Car-following: The basics by V.L. Knoop

Course subject(s) 09. Car-following

After a short recap of last lecture, car-following models will be discussed. Firstly, the different levels of descriptions and the different levels of driving tasks will be elaborated. Herewith the difference between lateral and longitudinal will be clarified. The relevance of car-following models will be brought to attention.  After a small exercise the Newell simple car-following model will be explained as well as the relation between microscopic and macroscopic models and how to find the shockwave speed.

Afterwards some other car-following models are discussed, including the Bando model and the IDM model. At last (local, platoon and traffic) stability will be covered. After this lecture you should be able to describe what a car -following model is and be able to calculate the following behaviour for the Newel, IDM and other models. Also you should be able to comment on stability and be able to derive the fundamental diagram from  a car-following equation.
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Car-following: The basics

Slides: Car-following; the basics

Also read chapter 11 about longitudinal driving task models and paragraph 4.2.5 of chapter 4 about the fundamental diagram based on a car following model.

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