Effects of DSRC-Based Safety Messages on Heterogeneous Traffic Flow Stability

The dynamic characteristics of heterogeneous traffic flow comprising regular and connected vehicles have drawn increasing attention recently. However, the existing car-following models in connected environments commonly lack experimental data as evidence. Based on field data mining analysis results, an extended heterogeneous car-following model is proposed to investigate the effect of DSRC (dedicated short range communications)-based safety messages on traffic flow stability in this paper. The analytical stable condition of this proposed model for homogenous and heterogeneous traffic flow is obtained by stability analysis. Finally, numerical simulations are carried out to verify the theoretical analysis results. Both analytical and simulation results show that when multiple preceding vehicles’ safety messages are taken into account, both traffic flow safety and stability can be improved. In addition, the traffic flow stability is enhanced with the increase of market penetration rate of connected vehicles.