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.
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.