A multiagent urban traffic simulation Part I: dealing with the ordinary

TL;DR

This paper presents a multiagent urban traffic simulation that models individual vehicle behaviors and their impact on overall traffic flow, using geometric and traffic data to create a realistic city traffic model.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed multiagent model for urban traffic, integrating geometric data and vehicle interactions to simulate ordinary city traffic conditions.

Findings

Successful simulation of Rouen traffic flow

Incorporation of vehicle interactions and behaviors

Graph-based network representation

Abstract

We describe in this article a multiagent urban traffic simulation, as we believe individual-based modeling is necessary to encompass the complex influence the actions of an individual vehicle can have on the overall flow of vehicles. We first describe how we build a graph description of the network from purely geometric data, ESRI shapefiles. We then explain how we include traffic related data to this graph. We go on after that with the model of the vehicle agents: origin and destination, driving behavior, multiple lanes, crossroads, and interactions with the other vehicles in day-to-day, ?ordinary? traffic. We conclude with the presentation of the resulting simulation of this model on the Rouen agglomeration.