Characterizing Heterogeneity in Drivers’ Merging Maneuvers Using Two-Step Cluster Analysis

In order to investigate the heterogeneity in merging behaviors on freeways, a novel data mining tool, called two-step cluster analysis, is applied to the merging maneuvers (namely, initial speed, merging speed, and merging position). Merging maneuvers of 370 drivers collected from the NGSIM dataset...

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Main Authors: Gen Li, Lu Sun
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2018-01-01
Series:Journal of Advanced Transportation
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2018/5604375
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author Gen Li
Lu Sun
author_facet Gen Li
Lu Sun
author_sort Gen Li
collection DOAJ
description In order to investigate the heterogeneity in merging behaviors on freeways, a novel data mining tool, called two-step cluster analysis, is applied to the merging maneuvers (namely, initial speed, merging speed, and merging position). Merging maneuvers of 370 drivers collected from the NGSIM dataset are automatically and optimally segmented into four clusters (Early Merging Drivers at High Speed, Early Merging Drivers at Low Speed, Late Merging Drivers at Low Speed, and Late Merging Drivers at High Speed) by the two-step cluster analysis. Hypothesis test confirms the significant differences in merging maneuvers between different clusters. The clustered data are used to find the best corresponding fitting distributions. Seven distributions (Normal, Log-normal, Student’s t, Logistic, Log-Logistic, Gamma, and Weibull) are considered for each cluster and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test statics are used to select the best fitted distributions. It is found that merging drivers may merge either early or late, under congestion or uncongested traffic condition. Further analysis of merging durations shows that Late Merging Drivers use significantly shorter time than Early Merging Drivers to finish the merging maneuver, no matter if they are at high or at low speed. Hypothesis test of accepted lead gaps and lag gaps indicate that merging drivers are more sensitive to the lag gaps under congestion. The proposed method can automatically identify the heterogeneity in merging drivers and the results obtained in this paper can be used to enhance the accuracy of the merge behavior models in microscopic simulation software.
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institution Kabale University
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spelling doaj-art-8d7edb54061d428cbf592668f49448f12025-02-03T01:00:23ZengWileyJournal of Advanced Transportation0197-67292042-31952018-01-01201810.1155/2018/56043755604375Characterizing Heterogeneity in Drivers’ Merging Maneuvers Using Two-Step Cluster AnalysisGen Li0Lu Sun1School of Transportation, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, ChinaDepartment of Operations Research and Financial Engineering, Princeton University, 229 Sherrerd Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544, USAIn order to investigate the heterogeneity in merging behaviors on freeways, a novel data mining tool, called two-step cluster analysis, is applied to the merging maneuvers (namely, initial speed, merging speed, and merging position). Merging maneuvers of 370 drivers collected from the NGSIM dataset are automatically and optimally segmented into four clusters (Early Merging Drivers at High Speed, Early Merging Drivers at Low Speed, Late Merging Drivers at Low Speed, and Late Merging Drivers at High Speed) by the two-step cluster analysis. Hypothesis test confirms the significant differences in merging maneuvers between different clusters. The clustered data are used to find the best corresponding fitting distributions. Seven distributions (Normal, Log-normal, Student’s t, Logistic, Log-Logistic, Gamma, and Weibull) are considered for each cluster and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test statics are used to select the best fitted distributions. It is found that merging drivers may merge either early or late, under congestion or uncongested traffic condition. Further analysis of merging durations shows that Late Merging Drivers use significantly shorter time than Early Merging Drivers to finish the merging maneuver, no matter if they are at high or at low speed. Hypothesis test of accepted lead gaps and lag gaps indicate that merging drivers are more sensitive to the lag gaps under congestion. The proposed method can automatically identify the heterogeneity in merging drivers and the results obtained in this paper can be used to enhance the accuracy of the merge behavior models in microscopic simulation software.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2018/5604375
spellingShingle Gen Li
Lu Sun
Characterizing Heterogeneity in Drivers’ Merging Maneuvers Using Two-Step Cluster Analysis
Journal of Advanced Transportation
title Characterizing Heterogeneity in Drivers’ Merging Maneuvers Using Two-Step Cluster Analysis
title_full Characterizing Heterogeneity in Drivers’ Merging Maneuvers Using Two-Step Cluster Analysis
title_fullStr Characterizing Heterogeneity in Drivers’ Merging Maneuvers Using Two-Step Cluster Analysis
title_full_unstemmed Characterizing Heterogeneity in Drivers’ Merging Maneuvers Using Two-Step Cluster Analysis
title_short Characterizing Heterogeneity in Drivers’ Merging Maneuvers Using Two-Step Cluster Analysis
title_sort characterizing heterogeneity in drivers merging maneuvers using two step cluster analysis
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2018/5604375
work_keys_str_mv AT genli characterizingheterogeneityindriversmergingmaneuversusingtwostepclusteranalysis
AT lusun characterizingheterogeneityindriversmergingmaneuversusingtwostepclusteranalysis