| Abstract: |
| Car-following models can reproduce instabilities and traffic waves that are observed in real traffic flow. Low density autonomous vehicles (AVs) have the potential to dampen and prevent these undesirable non-equilibrium phenomena. By connecting traffic models from micro to macro scales we: explore some of the multiscale characteristics of traffic instabilities, outline the key macroscopic flow consequences of microscopic traffic waves, show the possibilities and conditions of stabilizing traffic flow via AV-based smoothing, and point out the effects on the overall system-level fuel consumption balance by using simple vehicle-specific energy models. |
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