Model notes & references
Nagel–Schreckenberg cellular automaton on a ring of 300 cells, maximum speed 5 cells per step. Every step, all cars update in parallel: accelerate by 1, brake to the empty gap ahead, then with probability p slow by 1; then all move at once. Cars never overlap or overtake. A fixed random seed makes every run with the same settings identical; any control change replays the model from step 0.
The animation shows 8 model steps per second and interpolates positions between steps. Flow is reported in model units (density × mean speed); no conversion to real vehicles per hour or reaction times is implied. The brake pulse holds car 1 at speed 0 for three steps.
- K. Nagel and M. Schreckenberg (1992), A cellular automaton model for freeway traffic, Journal de Physique I 2, 2221–2229.
- Ring-road traffic-jam experiment: arXiv:0810.2820.
Original code and procedural art by explainer tools.