Quantum Computing for Predictive Transport Modeling: A Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Needs
Daniel Guerrero-Domínguez, Carlos Lima Azevedo, Sven Karlsson +1 more
Modeling in transportation is essential for planning and operating current and future mobility and logistics systems, with significant implications for modern economies. However, many of these modeling tasks involve computationally complex problems that challenge traditional models and forecasting techniques. Quantum computing offers a promising way to address these difficulties. This systematic literature review examines the state-of-the-art in applying quantum computing to transport modeling, including and classifying 40 studies, selected through a systematic search of three databases using predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. We identify three main types of quantum computing techniques used: quantum algorithmic primitives, quantum optimisation methods, and quantum machine learning approaches. With respect to the transport modeling problems addressed, the reviewed works cover forecasting demand, systems’ operation economic variables, predicting network states, estimating vehicle dynamics, and queueing systems. A notable trend is the application of quantum walks and quantum neural networks for the prediction of network state variables. Our review also underscores key challenges and research gaps, including the lack of standardized benchmarks and theoretical guarantees, particularly for quantum machine learning, the underexploited use of quantum walks for vehicle dynamics estimation, and quantum annealing for network state forecasting. We conclude with future research directions aimed at closing these gaps and building stronger theoretical foundations for sustained progress.
IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems•Mar 30, 2026•0 citations