SPONSOR: BMW Group

BUDGET: $60,000

ABSTRACT: The objectives of this project are to conduct an empirical analysis of features of traffic dynamics and driver behavior on German and U.S. highways. The project will include a thorough literature review of recent German and U.S. analyses of traffic dynamics as well as the application of revolutionary analytical tools to empirical data archived in both Germany and the U.S. Through this analysis, an innovative comparison will be made between the behavior of German and U.S. drivers as they approach and pass through freeway bottlenecks.

This will provide, for the first time, a direct comparative analysis of German and U.S. freeway data, and will contribute toward a greater understanding of differences in driver behavior in the two countries. In turn, this understanding will allow for improved travel time estimation and forecasting which will lead toward improved traffic management, traveler information and driver assistance systems.

The study outputs will include a technical report, a software package, and two technical journal/symposium publications. Due to the availability of archived freeway data from both Germany and the U.S., a reliable methodology for empirical freeway bottleneck analysis, it is anticipated that the study objectives can be achieved in a reasonable amount of time. This study incorporates a unique methodology for processing freeway sensor data.

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