Fuzzy system representation of car-following phenomena

Summary form only given. Understanding the way vehicles interact with one another within a traffic stream is an important topic in transportation engineering. The specific situation being studied is when a driver is following another vehicle because his/her speed is constrained by the vehicle ahead, or roadway or traffic conditions that do not allow passing. This is termed a car-following situation. This paper examines the potential of fuzzy set theory for representing the car-following phenomena and its application to platoon operation. The proposed model has simplified the model developed by Chakravorty by using just 36 rules. The proposed model directly addresses the fact that the distance headway maintained between vehicles is a function of speed by utilizing empirical speed-headway data. This allows the model to maintain an accurate headway at any speed. An additional advantage of using this speed-headway data is that drivers with different personalities may be simulated. The major focus of the proposed model is to simulate the propagation of vehicle-to-vehicle interaction along a platoon of vehicles. The model results are compared to the actual driver behavior observed on the highway using a test vehicle. The model allows analysis of the asymptotic stability of the platoon under various conditions, such as when different types of drivers are in the platoon. The proposed model has also performed well in the examination of emergency conditions and traffic signal release and stopping situations.