The usability of traffic management and traffic control systems greatly depends on its ability for reacting to traffic patterns and permutations. In the domain of Urban Traffic Control much research is directed towards operation and optimisation of individual and linked signal-controlled road junctions. A follow-up approach is to get autonomous control algorithms for traffic signalling operations that continuously react to actual traffic. In this paper the author discusses the applicability of autonomous intelligent agents in urban traffic control. The framework of the autonomous UTC system presented is based on self organising objects, inter-object communication as well as specific control objects that have (artificial) intelligence. The discussion of the UTC system has a primary emphasis on the conceptualisation and design aspects of the system.
Abstract