Calibration of a macroscopic automated-vehicle traffic flow model for lane-free traffic

The present paper provides evidence that formally derived macroscopic models for the description of the traffic flow of vehicles under the effect of cruise controllers are successful even in very complex cases. A macroscopic traffic flow model for automated vehicles is calibrated to fit traffic data collected from the microscopic simulation with a lane-free vehicle movement strategy. The considered macroscopic model was formally derived – using a particle method – from the particular microscopic movement strategy. To evaluate the accuracy of the calibrated macroscopic model, two traffic scenarios are considered. In the first scenario, a highway stretch with an off-ramp and an on-ramp is used, while in the second scenario a funnel-like narrowing of the road is considered. In both cases, it is shown that the calibrated macroscopic model reproduces with high accuracy all the dynamically changing traffic conditions that appear in the microscopically produced traffic data.