HetroTraffSim: A Novel Traffic Simulation Software for Heterogeneous Traffic Flow

Traffic simulation software (TSS) is employed for planning, designing, and managing road networks. Among existing TSS, only SUMO and HETROSIM can be used for heterogeneous traffic. The objective of this work is to develop new software for heterogeneous traffic simulation which is effective and efficient. This is motivated by the fact that traffic in developing countries is typically heterogeneous. The HetroTraffSim TSS was developed using Unity3D and is based on a recently developed macroscopic traffic flow model. A 360 m section of University Road which is a two-lane arterial road in Peshawar, Pakistan, is used to evaluate the performance using real traffic data. The results obtained show that an increase in density decreases the velocity. Further, HetroTraffSim can be used to characterize and predict heterogeneous traffic behavior.