Journal of Highway and Transponation Research and Development Vol. 12,No.

1(2018)075

·
Study on Vehicle Lane-changing Behavior Based on Cellular Automaton

Ll Juan C$��) ** , QU Da-yi ( a±Jjc_)() LIU Cong (xU.!{�)

, , WANG Jin-zhan CEJtf:�) ,

XU Xiang-hua (i-f���)

(Institute of Automobile and Traffic, 01ngdao University of Technology, Omgdao Shandong 266520, Ch1na)

Abstract: The cellular automaton model is an effective tool for studying the dynamic characteristics of urban road traffic flow. To
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improve the lane changing behavior of vehicles in a microscopic traffic simulation by using the cellular automaton model, the in­

teraction between the following and the lane changing vehicles was analyzed. The following vehicle on the target lane was taken

as the research object during the lane changing process, and the lane changing rules of three lane changing models, namely, the

free, forced, and cooperative lane changing models, were adopted. These three types of models were simulated and compared by

changing the traffic flow density. The average velocity of the cooperative lane changing model was higher than that of the other

models. The information exchange between the vehicles improves the lane change success rate and ensures that the road re­

sources are fully utilized. The cooperative lane changing model is better than the original STCA model in improving traffic flow

and reducing traffic jams.

Key words: traffic engineering; lane-changing rule; cellular automaton; lane-changing model; traffic flow

Daoudia in 2003 (6). In 2009, Liu Youjun studied a

1 Introduction
Lane changing is a common behavior in the vehicle
driving process that can greatly influence road traffic
flow. Over the past decades, the lane changing behavior
of vehicles has been studied and analyzed from different
angles, and many traffic flow theories and models have
been built from the macro and micro aspects. Cellular
automata ( CA) theory has been widely used in the field
of transport, especially for studying vehicle driving be­
havior. The CA traffic flow model has a simple structure
yet can describe the nonlinear phenomenon of traffic flow
very well.
The CA model is essentially a cellular space that
comprises discrete and finite states, and the dynamic sys­
tem evolves on the discrete time dimension according to
some local rules(l]. The CA model comprises four parts,
namely, cell, lattice, neighbor, and rule. The CA mod­
el was first proposed by Cremer and Ludwig(z]. Other re­
lated models have been proposed, including model 184,
2 Lane change behavior analysis
a 1D model proposed by Wolfram(3J, the NS model pro­
posed by Nagel and Schreckenberg in 1992(4], the two­
lane model proposed by Nagatani based on the 184 model
( ] and the three-lane CA model proposed by
m 1993 5 ,
forced lane changing model based on CA (?J. By consid­
ering the communication between vehicles, Shi Dandan
et al. built a two-lane traffic flow model of CA(sJ. Yang
Haifei et al. built a traffic flow mixture model in the two
aspects of the macro motion wave and micro cellular au­
tomaton[9J. Wang Jiangfeng et al. established an im­
proved multi-lane lane-changing model in 2012 based on
CA (JO]. Shi Junqing et al. ( 2015) studied the applica­
tion of the CA model in urban road networks[n].
However, the application of CA theory is limited to
the study of new ways of changing lanes, and no model is
available for studying the different ways of changing
lanes. Moreover, the effect of different ways of changing
lanes on traffic flow has never been investigated. This
paper established different models and analyzed the lane
changing behavior of vehicles based on CA theory to im­
prove transport efficiency, reduce the number of traffic
accidents, and guarantee traffic safety.
Despite being a common behavior when driving on
the road, lane changing can easily cause traffic accl­
dents, thereby making traffic safety a key problem. Lane

Manuscript received March 4, 2016

*Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51178231)

• • E-mail address: 948819491@ qq. com

J. Highway Transp. Res. Dev. (English Ed.), 2018, 12(1): 75-80

 76 Journal of Highway and Transportation Research and Development

changing is typically divided into two stages, namely,

Direction oftraffic flow ---..
perception and operation. In the perception stage, the
LaneO
driver analyzes information from the surrounding environ­
Lane 1
ment and makes an appropriate judgment. In the opera­
Fig. 1 Two-lane CA model
tion stage, the driver changes the state of his/her vehicle
We assume that l represents the cell length, lc re­
to achieve the purpose of his/her driving operation. The
presents the vehicle length , e n =1 or 0 represents lane
traditional lane change classification method is based on
n, V;( t) represents the speed of the i-th vehicle at time
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the demand of the driver and can be divided into judg­

t' xi(t) represents the position of the i-th car tail at time
ment road change and mandatory lane change [lz]. In
t, gap;,;+ 1 ( t) represents the distance between the two
studying lane change behavior, vehicle lane change has
vehicles, (gap,,,,1(t) =X,,1(t) -X,(t) -lJ denotes
been divided into three types, namely, free lane change,
the distance between the i-th vehicle front and the i + 1
forced lane change, and cooperative lane change[nJ.
vehicle tail, Vmax represents the maximum speed of the
(I ) Free lane change: The relative distance be­
vehicle, and amax represents the maximum acceleration of
tween the following vehicle on the target road and the
the vehicle.
leading vehicle is not significantly changed, and no inter­
The traditional STCA model establishes two lane
ference occurs between the lane changing vehicle and the
changing rules that meet the following realistic traffic flow
surrounding vehicles.
( 2) Forced lane change: The lane changing vehicle
is forced into the target lane, while the following vehicle
state:

en =
{ I- c", gap" < mm I v"
>
+ I,

is forced to slow down. gapn back dsafe'

( 3) Cooperative lane change: The following vehicle
on the target road slows down to help the lane changing
vehicle change lanes when the latter sends a signal.
The main difference among these ways lies in the
effect of the interaction between the following vehicle and
the lane changing vehicle. Free lane change almost has
no effect on these vehicles. In forced lane change, the
lane changing vehicle acts as the leader in the relation­
ship and the following vehicle must slow down. In coop­
erative lane change, the interaction behavior between
en' other'
(I)
where gapn represents the space between the n and front
vehicles, gapn, othe r represents the space between the n ve­
hicle and the front vehicle on the adjacent lane, gapn,back
represents the space between the n vehicle and the fol­
lowing vehicle on the adjacent lane, dsafe represents the
safety space for lane change, and d saie =Vmax· Moreover,
e n represents the lane where the n vehicle stays, and
C" =I or 0. gap"< min { V"+I, Vm�} indicates that the

these vehicles is characterized as follows: n vehicle is blocked on the original lane, gapn,olher > gapn
W The lane changing vehicle sends a lane change indicates that the blocked vehicle can drive at a faster
signal. speed on another lane, and gapn,back ds afe indicates that
>

<2) For the following vehicle to receive the lane
change signal, the lane changing vehicle actively decel­
erates to create a larger lane change space.
® When the distance between the two vehicles
meets the safety requirements, the lane changing vehicle
if the vehicle changes lanes, then the safety space meets
the lane changing demand. In the STCA model, the lane
changing rule stays the same, and the diversity of the ac­
tual traffic cannot be reproduced.
3. 2 Build models

performs the lane changing operation. The simplified model only considers the influence of
the vehicle in front and the following vehicle on the adja­
3 Establish lane changing models
cent lane. As shown in figure 2, Vt and Vm represent the
3. 1 Two-lane environmental model speed of vehicles F and M, while a£ and am represent the
Figure 1 illustrates a two-lane road as a two discrete random acceleration of vehicles F and M.
lattice diagram consisting of n cells. If gapm,(,) > gapm"(, ) and gapm" ( ,) <min I vm +

J. Highway Transp. Res. Dev. (English Ed.), 2018, 12(1): 75-80

 {
U Juan, et al: Study on Vehicle Lane-changing Behavior Based on Cellular Automaton 77

Direction of traffic flow -- Xm(t+1) =Xm(t) +Vm

X1(t+1) =X1(t) +V1
gapfm(t+1) =Xm(t+1) -Xf(t+1) -lf

Fig. 2 Location relationship of vehicles

gapfm(t +1) = gapfm (t) + vm- vf
( 3)
am, Vmax l , then vehicle M on the original lane is
When Vm > V1, gap1m is increasing, and gaplm >
blocked and needs to change lanes to drive at a faster
d,af. �0 remains constant, then the vehicles can change
speed. The vehicle lane change must meet two condi­
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lanes freely. However, when Vm < V1 and gap1m is decrea­

tions. The first condition is the speed space advantage,
sing, vehicle M must complete the lane change in time
which suggests that the vehicle cannot move at the expec­
gapfm(t)
ted speed. The driving environment on the adjacent lane .
vf-vm
is much better under this condition. The second condi­
( 2) Vehicle M constant acceleration lane changing
tion is the safety condition, which indicates that the vehi­
Speed update:
cle lane change must meet a certain safety distance to a­
{Vm(t+1) = Vn,(t) +am
(4)

{
void traffic accidents. We need to consider the influence
vf(t+1) = vf(t)
of vehicle F on the target lane. When vehicle M changes
Location update :
lanes, then two vehicles may crash on their sides and
Xm(t+1) =Xm(t) +Vm(t+1)
sustain scratches. When vehicle M moves into the target
X1(t+1) =X1(t) +V1(t)
lane, the two cars become prone to rear-end accidents.
gapfm(t+1) =Xm(t+1) -Xf(t+1) -lf
To avoid traffic accidents and ensure driving safety, the
vehicle lane changing condition must be met. Different gapfm(t +1) = gapfm(t) + vm +am- vf

types of lane changes produce varying effects on the driv­ ( 5)

ing state of vehicle F. We build models for the three lane When Vm < V1, vehicle M accelerates until entering

changing ways based on CA. the target lane to meet Vm =V1 . Vehicle M runs at con­
stant velocity to ensure the running stability of its vehicle
3. 2. 1 Free lane change
flow. t, denotes the time required for the vehicle to speed
Vehicle M can be freely changed, that is, the
vf-vm
movement of vehicle M into the target lane will have no up. In this case, am = --­

impact on the following vehicle F. Vehicle F can run on
3. 2. 2
a constant speed. The change in the running state of ve­
hicle M does not affect the whole road. The lane chan­
ging behavior of vehicle M is generally divided into longi­
tudinal vertical constant speed and longitudinal accelera­
tion. Local and foreign research shows that the safety dis­
tance demand is mainly determined by the relative longi­
tudinal velocity and the relative longitudinal acceleration
and time of the two vehicles. When gapfm > d,afe, the ve­
hicle can change lanes freely. Among them, gap1m repre­
sents the distance between the car F and the car M.
( 1) Vehicle M constant speed lane change
Speed update:
{Vm(t+1) = Vm(t)
( 2)
V1(t+1) = V1(t)
Location update :
t,
Forced lane change
When vehicle M sends a lane change signal, vehicle
M carries out the lane change operation regardless of the
state of vehicle F. In case of no conflict, vehicle F needs
to reduce its speed by maximum deceleration to ensure
that gapfm meets the safety distance.
The vehicle lane change safety distance is computed
as follows:
( 6)
Equation ( 6) indicates that the maximum possible
speed of vehicle F on the adjacent lane is subtracted from
the maximum possible speed of vehicle M. The forced
lane change of vehicles is influenced by several factors,
including the obstacles or traffic restrictions in front of
the vehicle, the ramps along the road, the intersection

J. Highway Transp. Res. Dev. (English Ed.), 2018, 12(1): 75-80

 78 Journal of Highway and Transportation Research and Development
lines, and the hyperthyroidism of the drivers. A vehicle
is more likely to be forced to change lanes when posi­
tioned near its latest lane change location. The lane
change pressure is defined by a. The hyperthyroidism of
the driver reflects the type of driver. fJ denotes the hy­
perthyroidism coefficient, and a higher value of fJ indi­
cates a greater possibility for a forced lane change. Fol­
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lowing the requirements for identifying distance in traffic
sign settings, a sign board is installed at the 50th posi­
tion of the change road, and the pressure is equal to 1 at
this time. l represents the distance of the vehicle from
1
the latest lane change position( 4 l . vm =vm ' and gapfm decreasing. If the spacing does not
l meet the lane change requirements, then vehicle M must
a = 50' 0 � l �50.
The feasibility of a forced lane change is determined
by the space between two vehicles, the pressure of lane
change, the hyperthyroidism of the driver, and the rela­
tive velocity and acceleration of the two vehicles.
(gapfm ,a,fJ)
y =
I V1-Vm I
As indicated in the previous literature(lS) , when
y> 1. 4 , a lane change is considered safe. Vehicle F
will reduce its speed by maximum deceleration when ve­
hicle M is forced to change lanes.
Speed update:
{Vm(t+1) =Vm(t)
{
Vf(t +1) = Vf(t) -amax
Location update :
Xm(t+J) =Xm(t) +Vm(t+J)
X1(t+l) =X1(t) +V1(t+l)
gap1m(t+l) =Xm(t+l) -X1(t+l) -[1
gapfm(t +1) =gapfm(t) + vm +amax- vf
( 10)
3. 2. 3 Cooperative lane change
If vehicle M intends to change lanes, then the driver
switches on his/her tum light and does not directly oper­
ate the lane change. The vehicle moves at a constant
speed and observes the reaction of vehicle F on the target
lane. At this time, vehicle F chooses between two deci­
sions. First, allow vehicle M to make a lane change re­
quest, reduce its speed to meet the safety spacing re­
quirements, and allow vehicle M to operate the lane
change. Second, vehicle F does not accept the lane
J. Highway Transp. Res. Dev. (English Ed.), 2018, 12(1): 75-80
change request of vehicle M and then accelerates or
moves forward at constant speed. Vehicle M can only
wait for the next opportunity to change lanes.
The cooperative lane change process is mainly af­
fected by the choice of vehicle F between accelerating the
pace of probability p1 or slowing down the pace of proba­
bilityp2 , where p1+p2 =1.
The acceleration and deceleration probability is
mainly influenced by the driver type ( radical or conser­
vative) .
( 1) Vehicle F acceleration: V1----o>-min( V1+a1, Vmax) ,
(7)
give up its lane change decision.
( 2) Vehicle F deceleration: Vehicle F slows down
at time t1 and makes the gapfm ( t1 ) to meet the lane
change requirements.
Speed update:
( 8)
{Vm(t1+J) = V m(t1)
{
(11)
vf( tl +1) = vf(tl ) -af
Location update:
xm (t l +1) = xm( tJ + vm( t l +1)
XJt1 +1) =X1(t1) + V1(t1 +1)
gapfm(t1+1) = Xm(t1 +1) -Xf(t1 +1) -lf
( 9)
gap1m(t1+1) =gap1m(t1) +Vm-V1(t1) +a1
(12)
4 Numerical simulation and analysis
The above models are simulated and analyzed.
However, given that free lane change is not restricted,
the simulation is not performed. The STCA model is
compared with the two models introduced in this paper.
The simulation cell is shown in figure 2. lane 1 is for the
lane change vehicle, while lane 0 is for the target lane.
These two lanes are composed of 1 000 elements and
have a total length of 7. 5 km. Five cells are set for the
speed. The vehicle is randomly distributed in two dis­
crete elements. The random slow rate is set asp =0. 25.
Each run has 1 800 time steps to eliminate the transient
effect, 450 time steps are not carried out at the start and
the end, and only 900 time steps ( 15 min) are consid­
ered in the middle. Pm indicates the lane change success
rate, while v indicates the average speed.
 U Juan, et al: Study on Vehicle Lane-changing Behavior Based on Cellular Automaton
4. 1 Velocity analysis
The vehicle density is changed and the variation in
average vehicle speed is observed. The horizontal coordi­
nate represents density, which indicates that the total
number of vehicles is proportional to the total number of
cells. The vertical coordinate represents the average
speed, and the unit is the ratio of cell number and time
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step. The simulation results are shown in figure 3.
s
------- Cooperative
-.. •·-· Forced
4 change for the promotion of traffic flow is limited. But a
-+-STCA
3
2
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 o.s 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2
Po
Fig. 3 Relationship between average speed and velticle density
When the traffic flow density is low, the vehicle sat­
isfies the free lane change condition, the speed change is
not large, and the advantages and disadvantages of the
three models are not obvious. As the density increases,
the vehicle increases its speed under the influence of the
surrounding environment. To achieve a speed advantage,
the vehicle is expected to increase its speed. The vehicle
runs at a higher speed in cooperative lane change com­
pared with that in the forced exchange. Meanwhile, the
average speed of the vehicle in a forced lane change is
higher than that proposed in the STCA model. When the
traffic flow density reaches a certain degree, the advan­
tage of the model is no longer obvious, the traffic flow is
blocked, and the vehicle runs at low speed. The infor­
mation exchange between the vehicles can improve their
average speed and fully utilize the road resources.
4. 2 Lane change success rate analysis
Change the vehicle density, observe the success rate
of road vehicles for change, the simulation results are
shown in figure 4. At a relatively low density, the road
resources are a bundant, the vehicle lane change success
rate is very high, and the advantages of the three models
are not obvious. As the density increases, the vehicle
lane change becomes more difficult and the success rate
J. Highway Transp. Res. Dev. (English Ed.), 2018, 12(1): 75-80
79
of cooperative lane change becomes significantly higher
than that of forced lane change. However, at a high den­
sity, the vehicle lane change becomes difficult, the traffic
jam becomes very serious, and the lane change success
rate is very low. These observations are in line with the
actual situation. According to the lane change rules of the
STCA model, the following vehicle must meet the safety
distance to increase the speed of the lane changing vehicle
and to maintain its own speed. in the car to enhance the
speed of the car is not hindered, but a lower rate of
lower rate of change is limited to the promotion of traffic
flow.
- Cooperative
-·· •·-· Forced
0.8
�STCA
0.6
0.4
0.2
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2
Po
Fig.4 Relationship between lane-changing rate and
velricle density
4. 3 Space-time graph analysis
The space-time patterns of three different lane-chan­
ging rules are shown in figure 5.
Figure 5 shows a serious phase separation phenome­
non in the STCA model, which has a high blocking fre­
quency and long duration. This phenomenon represents
an actual road resource utilization. In the forced lane
changing model, the blocking frequency is reduced, the
phase separation phenomenon is weakened, and the du­
ration is shortened. However, in the cooperative lane
changing model, the blocking phase is weakened yet ap­
pears occasionally, the duration is very short, and the
road resources can be reasonably utilized.
5 Conclusions
Three models, namely, free, forced, and coopera­
tive lane change models, are established in this paper.
These models are analyzed and several vehicle state up­
date rules are established. Based on the STCA model,
 80 Journal of Highway and Transportation Research and Development

(a) STCAmodel (b) Fon:ed lane change model (c) Cooperative lane change model
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Fig. 5 Temporal-spatial pattern of the three models

we consider additional factors and establish three lane [6] DAOUDIA A K, MOUSSA N. Numerical Simulations of a

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The average velocity of the cooperative lane chan­
142 -146. (in Chinese)
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J. Highway Transp. Res. Dev. (English Ed.), 2018, 12(1): 75-80