Accurately predicting lane-changing behaviors (lane keeping, left lane change and right lane change) in real-time is essential for ensuring traffic safety, particularly in mixed-traffic environments with both autonomous and manual vehicles. This paper proposes a fused model that predicts vehicle lane-changing behaviors based on the road traffic environment and vehicle motion parameters. The model combines the ensemble learning XGBoost algorithm with the deep learning Bi-GRU neural network. The XGBoost algorithm first checks whether the present environment is safe for the lane change and then evaluates the likelihood that the target vehicle will make a lane change. Subsequently, the Bi-GRU neural network is used to accurately forecast the lane-changing behaviors of nearby vehicles using the feasibility of lane-changing and the vehicle's motion status as input features. The highD trajectory dataset was utilized for training and testing the model. The model achieved an accuracy of 98.82%, accurately predicting lane changes with an accuracy exceeding 87% within a 2-second timeframe. By comparing with other methods and conducting experimental validation, we have demonstrated the superiority of the proposed model, thus, the research achievement is of utmost significance for the practical application of autonomous driving technology.

Accurately predicting traffic flow is an essential component of intelligent transportation systems. The advancements in traffic data collection technology have broadened the range of features that affect and represent traffic flow variations. However, solely inputting gathered features into the model without analysis might overlook valuable information, hindering the improvement of predictive performance. Furthermore, intricate dynamic relationships among various feature inputs could constrain the model's potential for further enhancement in predictive accuracy. Consequently, extracting pertinent features from datasets and modeling their mutual influence is critical in attaining heightened precision in traffic flow predictions. First, we perform effective feature extraction by considering the temporal dimension and inherent operating rules of traffic flow, culminating in Multivariate Time Series (MTS) data used as input for the model. Then, an attention mechanism is proposed based on the MTS input data. This mechanism assists the model in selecting pertinent time series for multivariate forecasting, mitigating inter-feature influence, and achieving accurate predictions through the concentration on crucial information. Finally, empirical findings from real highway datasets illustrate the enhancement of predictive accuracy attributed to the proposed features within the model. In contrast to conventional machine learning or attention-based deep learning models, the proposed attention mechanism in this study demonstrates superior accuracy and stability in MTS-based traffic flow prediction tasks.