Macroscopic effects of multianticipative driving behavior on traffic flow characteristics

Intelligent transportation systems have been considered an important solution in enhancing freeway capacity and suppressing traffic congestion. One recent automotive technology has enabled a vehicle to communicate with several vehicles ahead via a wireless system. Such a communication system constitutes so-called multianticipative driving behavior. In general, the effect of multianticipative interactions on traffic flow dynamics has been studied widely in the literature on the basis of a microscopic modeling approach. This paper presents an alternative approach to gain insights into the effect of multianticipative driving behavior on traffic flow characteristics from a macroscopic model. The model is obtained from a gas-kinetic theory in which the multianticipative interactions are taken into consideration. It is found that the analytical and numerical results of the model are consistent with those obtained from microscopic models. It is argued that the results provide a better understanding of the effect of multianticipative interactions on traffic flow characteristics.