Extending the Intelligent Driver Model in SUMO and Verifying the Drive Off Trajectories with Aerial Measurements

Abstract

Connected and automated driving functions are key components for future vehicles. Due to implementation issues and missing infrastructure, the impact of connected and automated vehicles on the traffic flow can only be evaluated in accurate simulations. Simulation of Urban Mobility (SUMO) provides necessary and appropriate models and tools. SUMO contains many car-following models that replicate automated driving, but cannot realistically imitate human driving behavior. When simulating queued vehicles driving off, existing car-following models are neither able to correctly emulate the acceleration behavior of human drivers nor the resulting vehicle gaps. Thus, we propose a time-discrete 2D Human Driver Model to replicate realistic trajectories. We start by combining previously published extensions of the Intelligent Driver Model (IDM) to one generalized model. Discontinuities due to introduced reaction times, estimation errors and lane changes are conquered with new approaches and equations. Above all, the start-up procedure receives more attention than in existing papers. We also provide a first evaluation of the advanced car-following model using 30 minutes of an aerial measurement. This dataset contains three hours of drone recordings from two signalized intersections in Stuttgart, Germany. The method designed for extracting the vehicle trajectories from the raw video data is outlined. Furthermore, we evaluate the accuracy of the trajectories obtained by the aerial measurement using a specially equipped vehicle.