A reactive agent-based neural network car following model

This paper presents a car following model which was developed using reactive agent techniques based on a neural network approach for mapping perceptions to actions. The model has a similar formulation to the desired spacing models which do not consider reaction time or attempt to explain the behavioural aspects of car following. A number of error tests were used to compare the performance of the model against a number of established car following models. The results showed that simple back-propagation neural network models outperformed the Gipps and psychophysical family of car following models. A qualitative drift behaviour analysis also confirmed the findings. For microscopic validation, speed and position of individual vehicles computed from the model were compared to field data. Macroscopic validation involved comparison of the field data and model results for trajectories, average speed, density and volume. Model validation at the microscopic and macroscopic levels showed very close agreement between field data and model results.