The human controller in car following

The man machine interface between the human driver and his automobile during car following tasks was examined. A direct connection between models of the human operator and the theory of optimal control was established for car following situations involving both linear and nonlinear car dynamics. Results obtained from several types of mathematical models are discussed. Conventional parameter identification techniques were used to obtain the parameters of these models by comparing their performance to data obtained by aerial photogrammetry. The results indicate that there are two general classes of model structures: models assumed to have preview information and models without preview.