Analysis string stability of a new car-following model considering response time

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of the response time on the dynamics of a desired safety margin (DSM) car-following model, where the response time plays an important role in determining the qualitative dynamical of vehicles in car-following process. The stability criterion of the DSM car-following model is obtained by the linear system stability theory. Numerical simulations are in good agreement with the analytical results, which reveals that the response time would significantly influence the stability of traffic flow on a straight road. The numerical results also indicate that intelligent driving can help to reduce traffic congestion because the unstable flow can be stabilized by adopting the response time.