title: Traffic experiment reveals the nature of car-following.
abstract: As a typical self-driven many-particle system far from equilibrium, traffic flow exhibits diverse fascinating non-equilibrium phenomena, most of which are closely related to traffic flow stability and specifically the growth/dissipation pattern of disturbances. However, the traffic theories have been controversial due to a lack of precise traffic data. We have studied traffic flow from a new perspective by carrying out large-scale car-following experiment on an open road section, which overcomes the intrinsic deficiency of empirical observations. The experiment has shown clearly the nature of car-following, which runs against the traditional traffic flow theory. Simulations show that by removing the fundamental notion in the traditional car-following models and allowing the traffic state to span a two-dimensional region in velocity-spacing plane, the growth pattern of disturbances has changed qualitatively and becomes qualitatively or even quantitatively in consistent with that observed in the experiment.
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory for Urban Transportation Complex Systems Theory and Technology, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China; State Key Laboratory of Fire Science and School of Engineering Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Fire Science and School of Engineering Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China.
authors.forename: Mao-Bin
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California Davis, Davis, California, United States of America; Department of Traffic Engineering, School of Transportation Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: H M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory for Urban Transportation Complex Systems Theory and Technology, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Zi-You
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory for Urban Transportation Complex Systems Theory and Technology, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Fire Science and School of Engineering Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China.
authors.forename: Qing-Song
authors.initials: QS
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Automaton, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Automaton, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D001336:Automobiles; D008962:Models, Theoretical
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