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Main Authors: Zeng, Luwei, Yan, Runze
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.07034
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author Zeng, Luwei
Yan, Runze
author_facet Zeng, Luwei
Yan, Runze
contents Modeling car-following behavior is essential for traffic simulation, analyzing driving patterns, and understanding complex traffic flows with varying levels of autonomous vehicles. Traditional models like the Safe Distance Model and Intelligent Driver Model (IDM) require precise parameter calibration and often lack generality due to simplified assumptions about driver behavior. While machine learning and deep learning methods capture complex patterns, they require large labeled datasets. Foundation models provide a more efficient alternative. Pre-trained on vast, diverse time series datasets, they can be applied directly to various tasks without the need for extensive re-training. These models generalize well across domains, and with minimal fine-tuning, they can be adapted to specific tasks like car-following behavior prediction. In this paper, we apply Chronos, a state-of-the-art public time series foundation model, to analyze car-following behavior using the Open ACC dataset. Without fine-tuning, Chronos outperforms traditional models like IDM and Exponential smoothing with trend and seasonality (ETS), and achieves similar results to deep learning models such as DeepAR and TFT, with an RMSE of 0.60. After fine-tuning, Chronos reduces the error to an RMSE of 0.53, representing a 33.75% improvement over IDM and a 12-37% reduction compared to machine learning models like ETS and deep learning models including DeepAR, WaveNet, and TFT. This demonstrates the potential of foundation models to significantly advance transportation research, offering a scalable, adaptable, and highly accurate approach to predicting and simulating car-following behaviors.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_07034
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Explore the Use of Time Series Foundation Model for Car-Following Behavior Analysis
Zeng, Luwei
Yan, Runze
Machine Learning
Modeling car-following behavior is essential for traffic simulation, analyzing driving patterns, and understanding complex traffic flows with varying levels of autonomous vehicles. Traditional models like the Safe Distance Model and Intelligent Driver Model (IDM) require precise parameter calibration and often lack generality due to simplified assumptions about driver behavior. While machine learning and deep learning methods capture complex patterns, they require large labeled datasets. Foundation models provide a more efficient alternative. Pre-trained on vast, diverse time series datasets, they can be applied directly to various tasks without the need for extensive re-training. These models generalize well across domains, and with minimal fine-tuning, they can be adapted to specific tasks like car-following behavior prediction. In this paper, we apply Chronos, a state-of-the-art public time series foundation model, to analyze car-following behavior using the Open ACC dataset. Without fine-tuning, Chronos outperforms traditional models like IDM and Exponential smoothing with trend and seasonality (ETS), and achieves similar results to deep learning models such as DeepAR and TFT, with an RMSE of 0.60. After fine-tuning, Chronos reduces the error to an RMSE of 0.53, representing a 33.75% improvement over IDM and a 12-37% reduction compared to machine learning models like ETS and deep learning models including DeepAR, WaveNet, and TFT. This demonstrates the potential of foundation models to significantly advance transportation research, offering a scalable, adaptable, and highly accurate approach to predicting and simulating car-following behaviors.
title Explore the Use of Time Series Foundation Model for Car-Following Behavior Analysis
topic Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.07034