Application of multi-agent systems in traffic and transportation

Agent-oriented techniques offer a newapproach aimed at supporting thewhole software development process. All the phases in the software development process are treated with a single uniform concept, namely that of agents, and a system modelled by a collection of agents is called a multi-agent system. AOT as a newadvance in information technology can help to respond to the growing interest in making traffic and transportation more efficient, resource-saving and ecological. This article gives an overviewof a diverse range of applicationswheremulti-agent systems promise to create a great impact in this domain. To demonstrate the ideasbehindAOTand their applicability in this domain, two applications currently under development at Daimler-Benz Research will be described in some detail.