Chain stability in traffic flow with driver reaction delays

Abstract—A deterministic microscopic car-following model considering delayed reactions of human drivers is studied from systems perspective for chain stability of a configuration of vehicles arranged on a single lane cruising at constant velocity without changing lanes. Two different driving strategies accom-panied by two different delay models are incorporated in this microscopic model. Arising analytical derivations from chain stability analysis help compare the effects of these strategies to and characterization of the traffic flow in the parameter space defining the delays and the coefficients representing the aggressiveness of the drivers. Illustrative examples are provided. Index Terms—traffic dynamics, discrete delay, distributed delay, slinky effects, stability