Cellular automation models and traffic flow

Abstract

A recently introduced cellular automaton model for the description of traffic\nflow is investigated. It generalises asymmetric exclusion models which have\nattracted a lot of interest in the past. We calculate the so-called fundamental\ndiagram (flow vs.\\ density) for parallel dynamics using an improved mean-field\napproximation which takes into account short-range correlations. For maximum\nvelocity 1 we find that the simplest non-trivial of these approximations gives\nalready the exact result. For higher velocities our results are in excellent\nagreement with numerical data.\n