An improved car-following model considering relative velocity fluctuation

• To explore and evaluate the impact of a new factor on traffic flow.
• Data mining analysis with the measured data is carried out.
• An improved car-following model considering relative velocity fluctuation is presented.
• The improved model can describe many nonlinear properties of traffic flow.
• It can improve the stability and fuel economy of traffic flow.

To explore and evaluate the impacts of relative velocity fluctuation on the dynamic characteristics and fuel consumptions of traffic flow, we present an improved car-following model considering relative velocity fluctuation based on the full velocity difference model, then we carry out several numerical simulations to determine the optimal time window length and to explore how relative velocity fluctuation affects cars’ velocity and its fluctuation as well as fuel consumptions. It can be found that the improved car-following model can describe the phase transition of traffic flow and estimate the evolution of traffic congestion, and that taking relative velocity fluctuation into account in designing the advanced adaptive cruise control strategy can improve the traffic flow stability and reduce fuel consumptions.