We teach our students about car-following theory and applications in our transportation engineering courses at the undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate levels. This is an important part of traffic flow theory and essential in understanding and modelling traffic flow/ behaviour. Among its applications is in the development of simulation models such as those that are now commercially available like VISSIM and CUBE-DynaSim and the older but still very useful TRAF-NetSim. Car-following theory allows for a more accurate simulation of real-world traffic behaviour considering the many parameters describing traffic flow as well as the assumptions that need to be in place for various scenarios.

Here’s an interesting article that’s basically about car-following, specifically mentioning the proper (ideal?) spacing between vehicles and how such discipline can lead to less congestion along our roads.

Simon, M. (2017) Math says you’re driving wrong and it’s slowing us all down, Wired, https://www.wired.com/story/math-says-youre-driving-wrong-and-its-slowing-us-all-down/?CNDID=37243643&mbid=nl_121517_daily_list3_p4 (Last accessed: 12/17/2017).

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