Application of multi-agent systems in traffic and transportation

Agent-oriented techniques offer a new approach to support the whole software development process. All the phases in the software development process are treated with a single uniform concept, namely that of agents, and a system modelled by a collection of agents is called a multi-agent system. AOTs as a new advance in information technology can help to respond to the growing interest in making traffic and transportation more efficient, resource-saving and ecological. The authors give an overview of a diverse range of applications where multi-agent systems promise to create a great impact in this domain. To demonstrate the ideas behind AOTs and their applicability in this domain, two applications under development at Daimler-Benz Research are described in some detail