Cellular automata simulation of traffic including cars and bicycles

Jelena Vasic, Heather J. Ruskin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

As 'greening' of all aspects of human activity becomes mainstream, transportation science is also increasingly focused around sustainability. Modal co-existence between motorised and non-motorised traffic on urban networks is, in this context, of particular interest for traffic flow modelling. The main modelling problems here are posed by the heterogeneity of vehicles, including size and dynamics, and by the complex interactions at intersections. Herein we address these with a novel technique, based on one-dimensional cellular automata components, for modelling network infrastructure and its occupancy by vehicles. We use this modelling approach, together with a corresponding vehicle behaviour model, to simulate combined car and bicycle traffic for two elemental scenariosexamples of components that would be used in the building of an arbitrary network. Results of simulations performed on these scenarios, (i) a stretch of road and (ii) an intersection causing conflict between cars and bicycles sharing a lane, are presented and analysed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2720-2729
Number of pages10
JournalPhysica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications
Volume391
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Apr 2012
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Bicycle traffic
  • Cellular automata
  • Discrete stochastic model
  • Simulation
  • Traffic flow
  • Urban traffic

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