Optimal eco-driving scheme for reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions on curved roads

A S M Bakibillah; M A S Kamal; Chee Pin Tan; Tomohisa Hayakawa; Jun-Ichi Imura

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e23586

Optimal eco-driving scheme for reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions on curved roads

Heliyon. 2023 Dec 11;10(1):e23586. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e23586. eCollection 2024 Jan 15.

Authors

A S M Bakibillah¹, M A S Kamal², Chee Pin Tan³, Tomohisa Hayakawa¹, Jun-Ichi Imura¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Systems and Control Engineering, School of Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo 152-8552, Japan.
² Graduate School of Science and Technology, Gunma University, Kiryu 376-8515, Japan.
³ School of Engineering and Advanced Engineering Platform, Monash University, Bandar Sunway 47500, Selangor, Malaysia.

Abstract

Energy consumption and emissions of a vehicle are highly influenced by road contexts and driving behavior. Especially, driving on horizontal curves often necessitates a driver to brake and accelerate, which causes additional fuel consumption and emissions. This paper proposes a novel optimal ecological (eco) driving scheme (EDS) using nonlinear model predictive control (MPC) considering various road contexts, i.e., curvatures and surface conditions. Firstly, a nonlinear optimization problem is formulated considering a suitable prediction horizon and an objective function based on factors affecting fuel consumption, emissions, and driving safety. Secondly, the EDS dynamically computes the optimal velocity trajectory for the host vehicle considering its dynamics model, the state of the preceding vehicle, and information of road contexts that reduces fuel consumption and carbon emissions. Finally, we analyze the effect of different penetration rates of the EDS on overall traffic performance. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is demonstrated using microscopic traffic simulations under dense and mixed traffic environment, and it is found that the proposed EDS substantially reduces the fuel consumption and carbon emissions of the host vehicle compared to the traditional (human-based) driving system (TDS), while ensuring driving safety. The proposed scheme can be employed as an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) for semi-autonomous vehicles.

Keywords: Eco-driving; Horizontal curves; MPC; Nonlinear optimization; Road surface conditions.