Car-following as a tool in road traffic simulation

The car-following theory offers a mathematical description of how vehicles proceed in a platoon. The changes over time in the speed and acceleration of each vehicle, as a consequence of the speed and acceleration of the vehicles in front, are described. A new car-following model is suggested. The hypotheses is that a driver reacts to the stimuli from the surrounding traffic by choosing an acceleration or deceleration, which is proportional to two components, i.e., the difference between the preferred time gap and the actual time gap, and the difference between the preferred speed and the actual speed.