Paper detail

A nonlocal Lagrangian traffic flow model and the zero-filter limit

In this study, we start from a Follow-the-Leaders model for traffic flow that is based on a weighted harmonic mean (in Lagrangian coordinates) of the downstream car density. This results in a nonlocal Lagrangian partial differential equation (PDE) model for traffic flow. We demonstrate the well-posedness of the Lagrangian model in the $L^1$ sense. Additionally, we rigorously show that our model coincides with the Lagrangian formulation of the local LWR model in the ``zero-filter'' (nonlocal-to-local) limit. We present numerical simulations of the new model. One significant advantage of the proposed model is that it allows for simple proofs of (i) estimates that do not depend on the ``filter size'' and (ii) the dissipation of an arbitrary convex entropy.