Technology, human interaction, and complexity: reflections on vehicular traffic science

An overview of key developments in the field of vehicular traffic science over a 30-year period is presented. The overview highlights the key issues of interest in research areas such as car-following theory, urban traffic patterns, traffic system dynamics, and fuel consumption studies. The overview stresses the importance of collective and complexity effects in these research areas and yields the conclusion that vehicular traffic science must be viewed within the context of both the infrastructure that determines it and the technological environment that makes it a necessary field of study.