Stochastic Optimal Velocity Model with Two Vehicle Control Methods

Automated vehicles are widely considered as an important element of future transportation systems, and their adoption is expected to reduce traffic jams. In this paper, we propose a new mathematical model, namely, the controlled-SOV (C-SOV) model, to investigate the effects of controlled vehicles on traffic flow. Our Proposed model incorporates vehicle control in to the well-known stochastic optimal velocity (SOV) model. We propose two control. The gap-based control method regulates the velocity of a controlled vehicle to smooth its front and rear gaps, whereas the flow-based control method regulates the velocity of a controlled vehicle to smooth its front and rear flow. The results of our simulations indicate that the gap-based control, there are density regions where the flow rate is lower than that in the case where no control is applied. On the other hand, the flow-based control method consistently improves traffic flow.