Two-Lane Traffic Flow Simulation Model via Cellular Automaton

Road traffic microsimulations based on the individual motion of all the involved vehicles are now recognized as an important tool to describe, understand, and manage road traffic. Cellular automata (CA) are very efficient way to implement vehicle motion. CA is a methodology that uses a discrete space to represent the state of each element of a domain, and this state can be changed according to a transition rule. The well-known cellular automaton Nasch model with modified cell size and variable acceleration rate is extended to two-lane cellular automaton model for traffic flow. A set of state rules is applied to provide lane-changing maneuvers. S-t-s rule given in the BJH model which describes the behavior of jammed vehicle is implemented in the present model and effect of variability in traffic flow on lane-changing behavior is studied. Flow rate between the single-lane road and two-lane road where vehicles change the lane in order to avoid the collision is also compared under the influence of s-t-s rule and braking rule. Using results of numerical simulations, we analyzed the fundamental diagram of traffic flow and show that s-t-s probability has more effect than braking probability on lane-changing maneuver.