Scalable Simulations with POLARIS to Evaluate ITS Policies & Impact on Travel Demand
Large-scale transportation simulations are a useful tool in determining the viability and impact of ITS-based technologies (like usage-based road pricing and other policies enabled through connectivity).
Agent-based models are particularly adept at capturing the heterogeneity in varying vehicle technologies that is commonly present in each region – rather than assuming a homogenous distribution of people, vehicles, technology, and behavior. This workshop will introduce POLARIS, an R&D agent-based simulation tool that integrates various systems (transportation, vehicle technology, infrastructure, operations) to gather the cross-cutting impacts of different systems in one workflow.
Fast computations and high fidelity enable POLARIS users to run a multitude of what-if analysis, and key presentations in the workshop will educate attendees on POLARIS data model requirements, setting up scenarios, running transportation simulations, and evaluating ITS technologies through KPI generation. The federated toolset supporting POLARIS will also be highlighted which would provide users with the ability to explore POLARIS data models and outputs.
Free POLARIS licenses and an example model for Toowoomba, Australia will be provided during the workshop for a 6-month period for industry and academia alike to help kickstart the use of agent-based models.