Do we understand real traffic? - Data, models and simulations

Michael Schreckenberg

Physics of Transport and Traffic, University of Duisburg-Essen, Lotharstaße 1, 47048 Duisburg, Germany

Since the beginning of the 1990s the interest of physicists in traffic flow dynamics is growing enormously. On the one hand this is due to the fact that more and more data measured on the road became available which allowed for a clear identification of new phases in traffic flow. On the other hand new model approaches were introduced which are able to describe the various phenomena in a very intuitive way. But there are still many open questions especially concerning the transitions between different phases. Starting with a few historical remarks the talk discusses the current status of the work in this field and presents some applications.