Microscopic traffic flow model

Microscopic traffic flow models are a class of scientific models of vehicular traffic dynamics.
In contrast to macroscopic models, microscopic traffic flow models simulate single vehicle-driver units, so the dynamic variables of the models represent microscopic properties like the position and velocity of single vehicles.
Car-following models.
Also known as "time-continuous models", all car-following models have in common that they are defined by ordinary differential equations describing the complete dynamics of the vehicles' positions formula_1 and velocities formula_2. It is assumed that the input stimuli of the drivers are restricted to their own velocity formula_2, the net distance (bumper-to-bumper distance) formula_4 to the leading vehicle formula_5 (where formula_6 denotes the vehicle length), and the velocity formula_7 of the leading vehicle. The equation of motion of each vehicle is characterized by an acceleration function that depends on those input stimuli:
In general, the driving behavior of a single driver-vehicle unit formula_9 might not merely depend on the immediate leader formula_5 but on the formula_11 vehicles in front. The equation of motion in this more generalized form reads:
Cellular automaton models.
Cellular automaton (CA) models use integer variables to describe the dynamical properties of the system. The road is divided into sections of a certain length formula_13 and the time is discretized to steps of formula_14. Each road section can either be occupied by a vehicle or empty and the dynamics are given by update rules of the form:
(the simulation time formula_17 is measured in units of formula_14 and the vehicle positions formula_1 in units of formula_13).
The time scale is typically given by the reaction time of a human driver, formula_21. With formula_14 fixed, the length of the road sections determines the granularity of the model. At a complete standstill, the average road length occupied by one vehicle is approximately 7.5 meters. Setting formula_13 to this value leads to a model where one vehicle always occupies exactly one section of the road and a velocity of 5 corresponds to formula_24, which is then set to be the maximum velocity a driver wants to drive at. However, in such a model, the smallest possible acceleration would be formula_25 which is unrealistic. Therefore, many modern CA models use a finer spatial discretization, for example formula_26, leading to a smallest possible acceleration of formula_27.
Although cellular automaton models lack the accuracy of the time-continuous car-following models, they still have the ability to reproduce a wide range of traffic phenomena. Due to the simplicity of the models, they are numerically very efficient and can be used to simulate large road networks in realtime or even faster.