This paper introduces agent technology and its usefulness in the domain of Personal Travel Assistance (PTA). Agents are autonomous, intelligent software components performing dedicated tasks for their users who are travelers or service providers. In the case of PTA, the tasks include multi modal route planning, accommodation and travel monitoring. A multi agent system is a distributed system of intelligent agents which jointly design plans, schedule tasks and perform actions in a coordinated manner. Coordination guarantees a balanced resource distribution among the entities involved in the PTA domain. The scenario driven problem analysis of the PTA project within the German MOTIV (Mobility and Transport in Intermodal Traffic) program implies an agent-oriented implementation of the PTA components. These include personal travel assistants, travel brokers, travel agents, service providers, etc. The distribution of the PTA components is enforced by their distribution in time and space, as well as in the distribution of their attributes: goals, functionalities, behavior and roles, competences and responsibilities, preferences, etc. Agent technology eases the design and implementation of such highly distributed mobile systems as PTA.
Abstract