Intelligent control design of anticipation and relaxation behavior in real traffic flow

Car following and lane changing are the most common driving behavior in urban roads and highways. Although these two maneuvers have been studied extensively, the effects of lane change on car following maneuver remain elusive. This effect, which is called anticipation and relaxation, is a transient state between two car following maneuvers happening due to the lane change of new leader. During this behavior, immediate follower deviates from common car following models to accommodate the lane changer ahead. Previous studies for anticipation and relaxation proposed equation-based models for this behavior. These models are only matched to the test cases and are not reliable. Unlike previous studies, in this paper an intelligent controller based on the behavior of real drivers is proposed. This controller aims to regulate the acceleration of follower vehicle in a way that the control system mimics the behavior of real drivers. Afterwards, its performance is compared with human driver data. The results show that the intelligent controller offers safer and more comfortable drive than real drivers.