Towards a unifying framework for demand-driven directed transport (D3T)

Decentralized autonomous systems have the potential to be more performant, resilient and sustainable than classical systems under central control. For example, this includes vehicle routing problems in logistics systems, courier services, and public transport. Here, we outline elements of a framework to model, simulate, and assess the performance of such demand-driven directed transport (D3T) systems. Our contribution is a common language based on the Discrete-Event System Specification, which facilitates modelling and performance analysis of transportation systems across domains. We expect that our approach is useful to identify universal mechanisms and to explore the intricate interplay of the transport system structure at hand and its dynamics.