A simplified car-following theory: a lower order model

Abstract A very simple “car-following” rule is proposed wherein, if an nth vehicle is following an (n−1)th vehicle on a homogeneous highway, the time-space trajectory of the nth vehicle is essentially the same as the (n−1)th vehicle except for a translation in space and in time. It seems that such a rule is at least as accurate as any of the more elaborate rules of car-following that have been proposed over the last 50 years or so. Actually, the proposed model could be interpreted as a special case of existing models but with fewer parameters and a different logic. At least this should form a reasonable starting point for investigating other phenomena.