Modeling and analysis of traffic flow considering drivers’ attention allocation between anticipated and recommended speeds

Abstract To study the impact of driver attention allocation between anticipated and recommended speeds in traffic flow systems, an improved model is proposed based on the logical framework of microscopic car-following model. The linear stability analysis theory was applied to analyze and derive the stability conditions. A numerical simulation was conducted to verify these theoretical findings. Subsequently, the VT-Micro model, which is widely used for energy consumption and emissions analysis was introduced to further study the effect of the driver’s attention allocation on the vehicle’s energy consumption. The results showed that drivers paying more attention to the recommended speed while driving would be conducive to the stability of traffic flow and reduce the average energy consumption of vehicles. From the perspective of speed guidance, when recommending the speed to the driver, the higher the attention paid to the real-time dynamic speed as the guide speed, the more it would disrupt the stability of road traffic flow and the less conducive it is to the control of vehicle energy consumption. These observations may provide a new perspective for understanding driver behavior and managing road traffic flow systems.