Institutional Economic Analysis of the Digital Road: Methodological Extension of the Theory of the Institutional Role Model

Abstract

The digitalization of road infrastructure is a worldwide trend. It leads to coordination challenges between public, private, and scientific actors, such as increased system complexity, information asymmetries, and diverging particular interests. Consequently, a suitable control instrumentfor complex projects with heterogeneous actors is required. For this purpose, the Institutional Role Model (IRM) is used as an economic system architecture. Based on the publications, the economic and technical roles required for introducing the digital road and the institutions needed forthis are identified and defined. In addition, all four dimensions of the IRM are updated to meet the new requirements of digital projects. To consider future complicating developments, the scenario Vision Road 2040 is developed, in which the institution of humanoid robots is introduced. Furthermore, the possibility of automating the IRM process using a multi-agent system is investigated. The result is an institutional economic analysis of the digital road in the form of an IRM matrix that encompasses the identified roles and institutions as well as methodological extensions in each IRM dimension