Stochastic transport in complex systems: from molecules to vehicles

What is common between a motor protein, an ant and a vehicle? Each can be modelled as a"self-propelled particle"whose forward movement can be hindered by another in front of it. Traffic flow of such interacting driven"particles"has become an active area of interdisciplinary research involving physics, civil engineering and computer science. We present a unified pedagogical introduction to the analytical and computational methods which are currently used for studying such complex systems far from equilibrium. We also review a number of applications ranging from intra-cellular molecular motor transport in living systems to ant trails and vehicular traffic. Researchers working on complex systems, in general, and on classical stochastic transport, in particular, will find the pedagogical style, scholarly critical overview and extensive list of references extremely useful.