Application of multi-agent systems to shared transport services: A Review

Abstract

Several studies have extended the application of Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) to a wide range of different domains, including shared services with various purposes. With regard to transport systems, shared services enabled through technological solutions, especially in mobile space, have many benefits, such as mitigating traffic congestion and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, among others. In addition, with the population of large cities rising more than ever, citizens are becoming more sensitive to societal issues and other performance measures imposed by the new concept of smart cities. This work will study the literature with the objective of verifying the proposals and limitations of existing studies, prototypes and simulations, in order to provide a systematic evidence-based view of how the scientific community is applying MAS to leverage shared services for the implementation and feasibility of intelligent mobility solutions. In the course of the studies, we conclude that although some authors came to propose conceptual models and systems prototypes, the simulation component has been little explored and only synthetic data has been used. One of the reasons justified by the authors relates to the high costs of carrying out simulations. We did not find in the literature proposals that were effectively implemented and tested in the real world, but only prototypes and proposals of future developments.