Kyoto University and IBM's Tokyo Research Laboratory have developed a system that can simulate urban transport situations encompassing millions of individual vehicles in complex traffic interactions. A simulation can predict, for example, what will happen if a new office building, sports arena or other major facility is built and lead to improved planning of roads and public transportation.
"Imagine having the ability to ease congestion while curtailing pollution and accidents," said Prof. Toru Ishida, Department of Social Informatics, Kyoto University. "IBM and Kyoto University have found a way to do this before expensive and disruptive construction and other changes impact Kyoto's economy and its citizens. This is an example of how technology can aid smarter decision-making."
The system provides the current status of traffic and alignment of roads to drivers, including current speed and positions of vehicles, distance between cars, and the curvature and gradient of road on which the specific vehicle is running. City planners can use this data to model how each driver will react. In addition, the system can simulate traffic conditions with an eye to reducing carbon dioxide and potential accidents. The system platform can also simulate evacuations, emissions trading markets and auctions.
Key to the system is the IBM Zonal Agent-based Simulation Environment. It can increase the number of "agents" (the unit used on a server to indicate individual drivers) from hundreds of thousands to several million under a single processor on a PC server.