Eur. Phys. J. B 63, 321-327 (2008)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2008-00153-6

Network breakdown “at the edge of chaos” in multi-agent traffic simulations

¹ Transport Systems Planning and Transport Telematics (VSP), TU Berlin, Salzufer 17-19, Sekr. SG 12, 10587 Berlin, Germany
² Institute for Transport Planning and Systems (IVT), ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland

Received: 31 August 2007
Revised: 14 February 2008
Published online: 18 April 2008

Abstract

Traffic is highly influenced by network structure and human behaviour. Small changes in the human behaviour can lead to huge changes in the load of a traffic network. Current transportation models do not, and most of them cannot, research such random behaviour but always calculate a steady state. In our multi-agent transport simulation, we frequently observe seemingly random “network breakdowns”, huge traffic jams that spread over a big part of the network, making a normal traffic flow impossible. This paper describes the investigations that were performed on the results of our large-scale multi-agent transport simulations in an attempt to contribute to the better understanding of the dynamic processes in such simulations and, hopefully, better understanding and modelling of the real-world.