An improved car-following model based on multiple preceding vehicles under connected vehicles environment

Connected vehicles can obtain the position and velocity of multiple preceding vehicles. According to the characteristics of connected vehicles, this paper proposes the new control term and improves the original car-following model. The model considers the optimized acceleration and velocity difference information among the preceding vehicles. Meanwhile, linear stability analysis of the proposed model is executed and the stability criterion is given. It shows that the model has better stability compared with the existing car-following models. Three scenarios including car-following evolution, starting process and braking process are simulated, and the response time, space headway and velocity fluctuations are analyzed separately. The numerical simulation results show that the controlling strategy proposed in this paper has a noticeable effect on the stability of the traffic system. In addition, the calibration results based on the measured data show that the proposed model is more consistent with the actual traffic conditions.