# Modeling of Lane Changing Behavior of Connected Driving Based on Vehicle Interaction Potential
## 3 Acceptable Clearance for Lane Changing  
In following behavior, the vehicle only needs to consider the vehicle action potential generated by the vehicles in the same lane, and the two vehicles can drive safely as long as they ensure a certain safe distance from the following demand. However, when the longitudinal repulsive force is not zero, it means that the leading vehicle in the current lane exerts pressure on the target vehicle, and the target vehicle needs to slow down to maintain a safe distance from the leading vehicle. If the vehicle is traveling below the desired speed, a lane changing intention is generated.  
When conducting lane changing research, it is necessary to analyze whether the target vehicle and the interacting vehicle meet the safety gap of lane changing. The research shows that the vehicle action potential is the smallest when the acceptable gap of lane changing is satisfied, and the attractive and repulsive forces are zero at this time, and the equilibrium state of lane changing behavior is reached. That is to say,  
In this paper, active lane changing behavior is selected for analysis. Vehicle lane changing must meet two conditions: First, the speed space advantage; the vehicle in the lane cannot follow the expected speed, and at this time the adjacent lane driving conditions are better. The second is the safety condition of lane changing, which means that the vehicle that is changing lane needs to meet a certain safety distance to avoid traffic accidents.  
In the process of lane changing, the traffic safety of the lane changing vehicle \(M\) is affected by the traffic flow condition of the surrounding environment, as shown in Figure 4. The research assumes that only four vehicles adjacent to the main vehicle \(M\) are considered, in which vehicle L is the vehicle in front of the current lane, \(F\) is the vehicle behind the current lane, \(TL\) is the vehicle in front of the target lane, and \(TF\) is the vehicle behind the target lane. Among the four adjacent vehicles, the rear vehicle \(F\) of the original lane and the main vehicle \(M\) are in the following state, and the safety relationship between the rear vehicle \(F\) of the original lane is mainly determined by the rear vehicle \(F\), so the influence of the rear vehicle F of the original lane is not considered here. In the process of lane changing, the main vehicle \(M\) needs to perceive and judge the motion state of the three vehicles \(L\) in front of the lane and \(TL\) and \(TF\) in front of the target lane, and then make decisions and perform operations in a very short time. In this study, the distance where the interaction potential of interacting vehicles is zero during lane changing is called the acceptable gap of lane changing. The following research focuses on the conditions for safe lane changing between lane changing vehicles \(M\) and \(L\), and \(TL\) and \(TF\).  
To simplify the model, the following assumptions are proposed:  
1. The overall running speed of the target lane is better than that of the current lane, which meets the speed space advantage in lane changing conditions;
2. The lane changing vehicle remains in the same state during the lane changing process;
3. The influence of steering angle on speed is ignored.