Microscopic traffic simulation has proven to be a useful tool for analysis of varioustraffic systems. This thesis consider microscopic traffic simulation of rural roads and the use of traffic simulation for evaluation of driver assistance systems. A traffic simulation modelling framework for rural roads, the Rural Traffic Simulator(RuTSim), is developed. RuTSim is designed for simulation of traffic on single carriageway two-lane rural roads and on rural roads with separated oncoming traffic lanes. The simulated traffic may be interrupted by vehicles entering and leaving the modelled road at intersections or roundabouts. The RuTSim model is applied for analysis of rural road design alternatives.Quality-of-service effects of three alternatives for oncoming lane separation of an existing Swedish two-lane road are analysed. In another model application, RuTSimis used to simulate traffic on a Dutch two-lane rural road. This application illustrates that the high level of model detail of traffic micro-simulation may call for use of different modelling assumptions regarding driver behaviour for different applications,e. g. for simulation of traffic in different cultural regions. The use of traffic simulation for studies of driver assistance systems facilitate impact analyses already at early stages of the system development. New and additional requirements are however then placed on the traffic simulation model. It is necessary to model both the system functionality of the considered driver assistance system and the driver behaviour in system equipped vehicles. Such requirements can be analysed using RuTSim. In this thesis, requirements on a traffic simulation model to be used for analysis of road safety effects of driver assistance systems are formulated and investigated using RuTSim. RuTSim is also applied for analyses of centre line rumble strips on two-lane roads, of an overtaking assistant and of adaptive cruise control. These studies establish that the assumptions made regarding driver behaviour are crucial for traffic simulation based analyses of driver assistance systems (A). This document is also available at http://liu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:63/FULLTEXT01.
Abstract