Negotiation and coordination in carpooling: an agent-based simulation model

Abstract

Carpooling enables commuters to share travel expenses, save costs, improve mobility options and reduces emission and traffic congestion. In order to commute by carpooling, individuals need to communicate, negotiate and coordinate, and in most cases adapt their schedule to enable cooperation. This paper presents the design of an agent-based model by defining different phases and steps to move from solo driving to carpooling. It analyzes various effects of agent interaction and behavior adaptation of a set of candidate carpoolers. The start of the carpooling process depends on the individuals’ objectives and intention to carpool. Through negotiation and coordination, individuals can reach complex agreements in an iterative way. The success of negotiation highly depends on the lifestyle factors that influence the departure time decision, on the individuals profile and on the effect of constraining activities. The carpooling social network was established using results predicted by the FEATHERS, an operational activity based model for Flanders (Belgium). From the simulation’s discussions, it is possible to portray the real picture of the potential carpoolers throughout their carpooling period. The simulation results show that 9.33% of the commuters started to carpool with the time window of ±∆T = 30[min.] and the average occupancy of a car is 2.4 persons per car. When the time window is larger, the chances for negotiation success are greater than when using the smaller time window. Hence, the carpooling requires time flexibility. The Janus (multi-agent) platform is used for simulating the interactions of autonomous agents.