Driver and Vehicle Characteristics and Platoon and Traffic Flow Stability Understanding the Relationship for Design and Assessment of Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control

Advanced driver assistance (ADA) systems may change individual driver and vehicle characteristics and influence the overall traffic flow performance. An overview is presented of the relationship between individual driver and vehicle characteristics and platoon and traffic flow stability under manual, ADA, and mixed traffic. The factors that make traffic flow stable or unstable are reviewed and categorized, and how ADA systems influence traffic flow stability is reviewed. The definition of traffic flow stability, assessment methodologies, open issues that need further clarification, and implications for the development of ADA systems are discussed. The result of stability analysis depends not only on driver and vehicle characteristics but also on traffic stream characteristics and the method used to analyze stability.