Key ITS applications require simultaneous, accurate simulation of the interplay of complex phenomena occurring at multiple scales in traffic flow. The scales involved range from individual vehicles through collective effects and up to the network level. A promising approach to this problem is the coupling of different traffic modeling paradigms capable of handling a wide range of phenomena. This paper describes the design and progress in implementation of a new simulation environment for coupling of simulation techniques describing traffic flow in different degrees of detail. These techniques utilize macroscopic, mesoscopic, and microscopic models. Potential applications include challenging fundamental questions in traffic modeling such as self-organization of traffic structures, traffic prediction, collective and individual route guidance, incident management, the impact of new assistance systems on highway performance and traffic safety, and optimal integration of floating car data into a simulation environment. For the covering abstract see ITRD E114174.
Abstract