CarFollowingRegeln

CarFollowingRegeln, often translated as "car following rules" or "car following models," are fundamental concepts in traffic flow theory and simulation. They describe how individual vehicles behave in response to the vehicle directly ahead of them. These rules aim to replicate the realistic interactions between drivers, influencing acceleration, deceleration, and the maintenance of safe following distances.

A common and influential car following model is the Gazis-Herman-Rothermund (GHR) model, which is a type of stimulus-response model. It posits that a driver's acceleration is a function of the difference in speed between their vehicle and the vehicle ahead, as well as the distance between them. Other models, such as the Optimal Velocity (OV) model, suggest that drivers aim to maintain a speed that is optimal given the current spacing, while models like the Intelligent Driver Model (IDM) incorporate more complex behaviors like desired speed, maximum acceleration, comfortable deceleration, and a "sensitivity" parameter representing how cautiously a driver reacts to vehicles ahead.

These rules are crucial for developing accurate traffic simulations used in urban planning, traffic management, and the design of intelligent transportation systems. By mathematically defining how one car follows another, researchers can study phenomena like traffic jams, shockwaves, and the impact of driver behavior on overall road capacity and safety. The complexity of car following rules can range from simple "gap-keeping" models to sophisticated algorithms that account for driver perception, reaction times, and psychological factors.