Comment on “Analysis of optimal velocity model with explicit delay”

The effect of including an explicit delay time (due to driver reaction) on the optimal velocity model is studied. For a platoon of vehicles to avoid collisions, many-vehicle simulations demonstrate that delay times must be well below the critical delay time determined by a linear analysis for the response of a single vehicle. Safe platoons require rather small delay times, substantially smaller than typical reaction times of drivers. The present results do not support the conclusion of Bando et al. [M. Bando, K. Hasebe, K. Nakanishi, and A. Nakayama, Phys. Rev. E 58, 5429 (1998)] that explicit delay plays no essential role.