A Calibrated Force-based Model for Mixed Traffic Simulation

 

IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 2023, 29(3): 1664-1677.

Qianwen Chao, Pengfei Liu, Yi Han, Yingying Lin, Chaoneng Li, Qiguang Miao, and Xiaogang Jin

Example of mixed traffic simulation result generated by our calibrated force-based approach.

Abstract

Virtual traffic benefits a variety of applications, including video games, traffic engineering, autonomous driving, and virtual reality. To date, traffic visualization via different simulation models can reconstruct detailed traffic flows. However, each specific behavior of vehicles is always described by establishing an independent control model. Moreover, mutual interactions between vehicles and other road users are rarely modeled in existing simulators. An all-in-one simulator that considers the complex behaviors of all potential road users in a realistic urban environment is urgently needed. In this work, we propose a novel, extensible, and microscopic method to build heterogeneous traffic simulation using the force-based concept. This force-based approach can accurately replicate the sophisticated behaviors of various road users and their interactions in a simple and unified manner. We calibrate the model parameters using real-world traffic trajectory data. The effectiveness of this approach is demonstrated through many simulation experiments, as well as comparisons to real-world traffic data and popular microscopic simulators for traffic animation.

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