Anticipatory behavior in lane changing models

Actions performed by drivers in case of lane changing behavior are usually the result of some plan the driver has in mind. This involves anticipating future scenarios and persisting in order to execute the plan. The objective of this thesis is to develop a framework for modeling the lane-changing behavior that captures the anticipatory behavior of drivers. Two ways of capturing this behavior - a dynamic programming model and an explicit forced merging model - are developed in this thesis. The fact that drivers constantly modify their plans in the light of new information, suggests the use of a dynamic programming approach, where the solution takes the form of an optimal decision rule that specifies drivers' optimal decisions as a function of their current information. A theoretical framework is developed and the advantages and disadvantages of the approach are discussed. The computational complexity of applying such a model suggests adopting an alternative approach to the problem. The explicit forced merging model captures the planning and persistent behavior of drivers. The model is essentially a gap acceptance model that explicitly captures normal and forced merging behavior of vehicles merging from the on-ramp to the freeway.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Rao, Anita (Anita Anant)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Moshe E. Ben-Akiva.

• Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/34602

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/34602