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We present the Transportation And Production Agent-based Simulator (TAPAS), which is an agent-based model for simulation of transport chains that can be used, e.g., for analysis of transport-related policy and infrastructure measures. TAPAS is more powerful than traditional approaches to freight transport analysis, as it explicitly models production and customer demand, and it captures the interaction between individual transport chain actors, their heterogeneity and decision making processes, as well as time aspects. Whereas traditional approaches rely on assumed statistical correlation, TAPAS relies on causality, i.e., the focus is on the decisions and negotiations that lead to activities. TAPAS is composed of two connected layers, one that simulates the physical activities, e.g., production and transportation, and one that simulates the decision making and interaction between actors. We illustrate TAPAS with a scenario in which the consequences of three transport policy and infrastructure measures are studied.

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Abstract.A simulation-based tool is described which will be used to investigate how the actors in a transport chain are expected to act when different types of governmental control policies are applied, such as, fuel taxes, road tolls, vehicle taxes and requirements on vehicles. The simulator is composed of two layers, one layer simulating the physical activities taking place in the transport chain, e.g., production, storage, and transports of goods, and another layer simulating the different actors' decision-making processes. The decision layer is implemented by a multi-agent system where each agent corresponds to a particular actor and models the way it acts in different situations. The simulator will be used for analyzing the costs and environmental effects, and will in this way provide guidance in decision making regarding control policies. In addition, it will be possible for companies to use the simulator in order to determine cost-effective strategies given different (future) scenarios.