Influence of the number of predecessors in interaction within acceleration-based flow models

In this paper, the stability of the uniform solutions is analysed for microscopic flow models in interaction with K >= 1 predecessors. We calculate general conditions for the linear stability on the ring geometry and explore the results with particular pedestrian and car-following models based on relaxation processes. The uniform solutions are stable if the relaxation times are sufficiently small. However the stability condition strongly depends on the type of models. The analysis is focused on the relevance of the number of predecessors K in the dynamics. Unexpected non-monotonic relations between K and the stability are presented. Classes of models for which increasing the number of predecessors in interaction does not yield an improvement of the stability, or for which the stability condition converges as K increases (i.e. implicit finite interaction range) are identified. Furthermore, we point out that increasing the interaction range tends to generate characteristic wavelengths in the system when unstable