Integrated lane-changing models

This chapter summarizes a series of advances in lane changing models aiming at providing a more complete and integrated representation of drivers’ behaviors. These advances include the integration of mandatory and discretionary lane changes in a single framework, the inclusion of an explicit target lane choice in the decision process and the incorporation of various types of lane-changing mechanisms, such as cooperative lane changing and forced merging. In the specifications of these models, heterogeneity in the driver population and correlations among the various decisions a single driver makes across choice dimensions and time are addressed. These model enhancements were implemented in the open source microscopic traffic simulator of MITSIMLab, and their impact was demonstrated in validation case studies where their performance was compared to that of existing models. In all cases, a substantial improvement in simulation capability was observed.