Energy efficient traffic management and control - the eCoMove approach and expected benefits

Abstract

Transportation is an important contributor to environmental problems like declining air quality. Current traffic measures seek to optimize travel times, but fall short on the ideal of an ecologically friendly traffic system. The European research project eCoMove aims to reduce the overall fuel consumption in traffic by 20 percent by means of energy efficient driving behavior and energy efficient traffic management and control. This paper contributes to the understanding of the feasibility of this goal. Vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication is a key element in the vision of eCoMove. In this paper the eCoMove concepts are presented by means of an in-depth look on the eco Adaptive Balancing and Control system. Preliminary studies on rerouting, green priority and speed advice at signalized intersections indicate signification environmental benefits.

Connectivity-Enhanced Route Selection and Adaptive Control for the Chevrolet Volt

“… vehicle speed advisory programs targeted at encouraging efficient driving habits, such as gradual accelerations and intermediate travel speeds [5][6][7][8];…”

VANET-Enabled Eco-Friendly Road Characteristics-Aware Routing for Vehicular Traffic

“…Collins et al [6] looked at considering the fuel cost per second used on each route; however with no data on the road conditions, the fuel cost is simply a function of speed and acceleration. Several other papers looked at ways in which VANETs could be used to support algorithms which reduce emissions [7][8][9]. Most of the research in these papers concentrated on communication with traffic lights.…”

“…Optimizing light timing [8], [9] smoothes traffic flow which in turn reduces idle time. Knowledge of when traffic lights will change allows for smoother deceleration/acceleration of vehicles [7], and for turning off the engine of vehicles when waiting for the traffic light to turn green [9], helping reduce fuel consumption. Other papers concentrated on reducing journey time, which would also reduce emissions by reducing idle time spent [10].…”

Ecological traffic management: A review of the modeling and control strategies for improving environmental sustainability of road transportation

“…The most reliable approach to improve energy efficiency and reduce pollutant emissions in the design of a traffic regulation measure consists in directly considering these aspects as decision and optimization criteria. Therefore, interest in transportation regulation problems with explicit environmental considerations is growing (Wang et al, 2018;Vreeswijk et al, 2013).…”