Hindawi Publishing Corporation
International Journal of Computer Games Technology
Volume , Article ID , pages
http://dx.doi.org/.//
Research Article
Adaptive-AR Model with Drivers’ Prediction for
Traffic Simulation
Xuequan Lu,
1
Mingliang Xu,
2
Wenzhi Chen,
1
Zonghui Wang,
1
and Abdennour El Rhalibi
3
1
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, Zhejiang, China
2
Zhengzhou University, Hangzhou 310027, Zhejiang, China
3
Liverpool John Moores University, UK
Correspondence should be addressed to Wenzhi Chen; chenwz@zju.edu.cn
Received June ; Revised August ; Accepted September
Academic Editor: Ali Arya
Copyright © Xuequan Lu et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
We present a novel model called A
2
R—“Adaptive-AR”—based on a well-known continuum-based model called AR Aw and Rascle
() for the simulation of vehicle trac ows. However, in the standard continuum-based model, vehicles usually follow the
ows passively, without taking into account drivers’ behavior and eectiveness. In order to simulate real-life trac ows, we extend
the model with a few factors, which include the eectiveness of drivers’ prediction, drivers’ reaction time, and drivers’ types. We
demonstrate that our A
2
R model is eective and the results of the experiments agree well with experience in real world. It has been
shown that such a model makes vehicle ows perform more realistically and is closer to the real-life trac than AR (short for Aw
and Rascle and introduced in Aw and Rascle ()) model while having a similar performance.
1. Introduction
With the world’s rapid technological and economic develop-
ments in transport, there are an arising number of vehicles on
the roads in cities, towns, and countryside all over the world,
resulting in a large amount of challenges related to trac.
Accordingly, road trac research including the modeling,
simulation, and visualization of vehicle ows has become
paramount for a large number of researchers. Trac simu-
lation plays an essential role in virtual worlds, especially in
sport or simulation games from the entertainment industry.
A well-known example of such games is “Need for Speed”.
Vehicular games typically utilize agent-based trac models,
which involves a signicantly growing processing cost when
the number of vehicles becomes larger []. erefore, trying
to simulate trac ows by means of macroscopic trac
models, such as A
2
R, is an eective way in vehicular games
since macroscopic continuum models are fast and can handle
large areas in a virtual world eciently []. In addition,
vehicle ows make a big dierence in urban development
and in the design of roads, as well as improving policies and
guidelines with respect to trac regulation. Furthermore, by
exploring vehicle ows, we can investigate the causes of trac
accidents and congestions and study trac signs impact on
road circulation and so on.
Asamatteroffact,mostvehicleowsaresimulatedwith
agent-based microscopic models []. is type of model is very
popular; however, it requires a great deal of time and energy
andneedsalotofcomputation[]. As the number of vehicles
grows, the total simulation time increases dramatically [],
thus leading to a decrease in overall performance. Another
common simulation method is based on continuum-based
macroscopic models []. is model can optimize the total
simulation time to a great extent; however, it just follows the
vehicle ows passively, without considering drivers’ behavior
and eectiveness. To be closer to real-life trac ow, it is
necessary to consider drivers’ conduct.
In consideration of the problems mentioned above, a
model called “A
2
R” is proposed in this paper. is new model
iscreatedonthebasisofacontinuum-based macroscopic
model called AR []. We expect our approach not only
uses much less simulation time than microscopic methods in
large-scale, real-world networks of trac, but also takes the
eectiveness of drivers’ prediction into consideration.