Modeling the effect of microscopic driving behaviors on Kerner’s time-delayed traffic breakdown at traffic signal using cellular automata

• A novel cellular automaton was developed by incorporating the driving behaviors induced by traffic signals.
• Two sets of rules were developed for the sections where the effect of traffic signals is considered or not in driving.
• The anticipatory behavior incorporates a perception factor considering the vehicle speed implicitly and the gap to the preceding vehicle explicitly.
• The driving behaviors were examined on formation and dissolution of spontaneous traffic breakdown.
• The driving behaviors were investigated for the formation of platoon.

The signalized traffic is considerably complex due to the fact that various driving behaviors have emerged to respond to traffic signals. However, the existing cellular automaton models take the signal–vehicle interactions into account inadequately, resulting in a potential risk that vehicular traffic flow dynamics may not be completely explored. To remedy this defect, this paper proposes a more realistic cellular automaton model by incorporating a number of the driving behaviors typically observed when the vehicles are approaching a traffic light. In particular, the anticipatory behavior proposed in this paper is realized with a perception factor designed by considering the vehicle speed implicitly and the gap to its preceding vehicle explicitly. Numerical simulations have been performed based on a signal controlled road which is partitioned into three sections according to the different reactions of drivers. The effects of microscopic driving behaviors on Kerner’s time-delayed traffic breakdown at signal (Kerner 2011, 2013) have been investigated with the assistance of spatiotemporal pattern and trajectory analysis. Furthermore, the contributions of the driving behaviors on the traffic breakdown have been statistically examined. Finally, with the activation of the anticipatory behavior, the influences of the other driving behaviors on the formation of platoon have been investigated in terms of the number of platoons, the averaged platoon size, and the averaged flow rate.