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Optimal use of conventional and innovative vehicles

There are two primary levels of vehicle control:

  • a local level that makes it possible to control each of the vehicle’s subsystems
  • an overall level used to manage energy, safety, and comfort on board the vehicle and transmit the driver’s commands to the local control.

The desired mission of an automated vehicle (such as those used in fully automated rapid transit systems) may be the higher level of control, thus replacing driver decision-making. The vehicle’s mission may in this case be accomplished in terms of distance travelled over a given time interval with several possible speed and acceleration combinations. These degrees of freedom may be used in public transport vehicles to ensure a pleasant experience for passengers. Constant accelerations with a progressive derivative at start (jerk) are often used. When there is a time interval between stops, a speed that optimises a criterion such as energy consumption may be selected

Such leeway is greater in passenger vehicles because the dynamic parameters, including trip times, can be manipulated by drivers. Although this leeway diminishes considerably in heavy traffic conditions, drivers decide in many situations when to accelerate and when to maintain a cruising speed within maximum speed limits.

It is therefore possible to design systems that either advise drivers in real time to take the best driving choices or provide drivers with an offline analysis of their driving behaviours and a tool for retrospective learning of eco-driving rules.

The laboratory’s research in this field primarily covers two aspects:

  • Exploring the energy-saving potential of various types of conventional, electrical, and hybrid vehicle and creating energy-saving speed profiles that take traffic conditions and pollution into account.
  • Implementing safe and efficient eco-driving assistances systems (in collaboration with other Univ Gustave Eiffel laboratories).