Applications and driving behavior parameters of lane changing

Vissim distinguishes between the following lane changes:

• Necessary lane change in order to reach the next connector of a route:

For a necessary lane change, the driving behavior parameters contain the maximum acceptable deceleration for the lane changing vehicle and its trailing vehicle on the new lane. The deceleration depends on the distance to the emergency stop position of the next route connector.

• Free lane changes, if more space on the new lane or longer driving at the desired speed are required:

When a free lane change is performed, Vissim checks whether both desired safety distances are maintained on the new lane:

• the desired safety distance of the trailing vehicle to the lane changing vehicle
• the desired safety distance of the lane changing vehicle to its preceding vehicle

The safety distance reduction factor is applied to both desired safety distances.

You cannot change the degree of "aggressiveness" for free lane changes. You can, however, influence free lane change by changing the safety distance. You set the safety distance values in the model parameters of the car following model (Editing the driving behavior parameter car following model).

In both cases of lane change, upstream and downstream, the Minimum clearance (front/rear) must be respected (Editing the driving behavior parameter Lane change behavior).

In 2D animation, a current change of lanes, as well as the desire to change lanes is visualized via a small red line to the right or left of the vehicle (representing the indicator), from the defined Lane change distance on. In 3D animation, a current lane change and the desire to change lanes is shown via an indicator, if this is defined for the 3D model of the vehicle.

The desire to change lanes is triggered by:

• the vehicle route
• in the context of dynamic assignment by the path
• when a desired lane is set via the COM interface