System and method for simulating traffic flow distributions with approximated vehicle behavior near intersections

摘要

A computer-implemented method and system for simulating traffic flow configurations. The method includes simulating vehicle traffic on a virtual roadway configuration in a simulated environment using a car-following model to provide simulated vehicle traffic at an intersection, wherein the car-following model includes vehicle parameters of at least one of a lead vehicle and a subsequent vehicle at each timestep, the lead vehicle positioned in front of the subsequent vehicle, and modifying the simulated vehicle traffic using a ghost vehicle approximation model to provide simulated traffic flow distributions while maintaining incident avoidance criteria, wherein the ghost vehicle approximation model includes setting a speed value and a gap distance value of a ghost vehicle positioned in front of the lead vehicle and/or the subsequent vehicle to modify the vehicle parameters of the lead vehicle and the subsequent vehicle at each timestep.