Controlling traffic jams on a two-lane road using delayed-feedback signals

This paper focuses mainly on the stability analysis of two-lane traffic flow with lateral friction, which may be caused by irregular driving behavior or poorly visible road markings, and also attempts to reveal the formation mechanism of traffic jams. Firstly, a two-lane optimal velocity (OV) model without control signals is proposed and its stability condition is obtained from the viewpoint of control theory. Then delayed-feedback control signals composed of distance headway information from both lanes are added to each vehicle and a vehicular control system is designed to suppress the traffic jams. Lane change behaviors are also incorporated into the two-lane OV model and the corresponding information about distance headway and feedback signals is revised. Finally, the results of numerical experiments are shown to verify that when the stability condition is not met, the position disturbances and resulting lane change behaviors do indeed deteriorate traffic performance and cause serious traffic jams. However, once the proper delayed-feedback control signals are implemented, the traffic jams can be suppressed efficiently.