Effects of multi-phase optimal velocity function on a lattice model accounting for driver’s behavior

Abstract

In this paper, the effect of multi-phase optimal velocity (OV) on a lattice model accounting for driver’s characteristics in a unidirectional traffic system is investigated. From theoretical analysis, it is found that the presence of aggressive drivers enlarges the stability region on the phase diagram in density-sensitive phase plane. As the number of stages in multi-phase transition is closely related to the number of critical points, two stage (three-phase) OV function is considered and the simulation is carried out to find the effect of sensitivity and drivers behavior on traffic dynamics. Further, with the variation of traffic density, multiple phase transitions are reported which not only depend on sensitivity but are also strongly influenced by the driver’s characteristics. Finally, the numerical simulations are performed which verify the theoretical findings.