Michael Schreckenberg

Professor Michael Schreckenberg is a faculty member at the University of Duisburg-Essen, holding the first German professorship in Physics of Transport and Traffic since 1997. His research focuses on large-scale transportation systems modeling, simulation, and optimization, particularly road traffic dynamics and human behavior impacts. He leads projects like autobahn.NRW and RuhrPilot, which integrate real-time traffic data into simulations for forecasting and network analysis. His work extends to pedestrian dynamics and evacuation modeling, including applications for passenger ships.

Education: Earned a PhD in statistical physics from the University of Cologne (1985) after studying theoretical physics there. Joined the University of Duisburg-Essen in 1994.

Research Interests: Traffic flow modeling (e.g., Nagel-Schreckenberg cellular automata), human factors in ITS, synchronized traffic patterns, and evacuation simulations. Recent studies address automated vehicles, mixed traffic systems, and spatiotemporal traffic correlations.

Key Projects:

• Online traffic forecasting in North Rhine-Westphalia
• Analysis of driver reactions to traffic information
• Crowd behavior during emergencies

Labs & Tools: Founded the Physics of Transport and Traffic department at UDE, develops simulation tools like CAMAT for airport ground traffic and FAST for pedestrian evacuation.