This article discusses the potential of using autonomous and connected vehicle (CV) technologies to save energy. It also focuses on the potential energy savings of internal combustion engine-based vehicles (ICVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). An example of vehicle and powertrain co-optimization for HEV eco-approaching and departure is also given. CV technologies are gaining increasing attention around the world. Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication enable real-time access to traffic information that was not available before, including preceding vehicles’ location, speed, pedal position, traffic signal phasing and timing (SPaT). The example shown in this article demonstrates the potential benefits from vehicle and powertrain co-optimization by investigating an eco-approaching and departure application. More research in this area can offer more mature solutions to implement such optimization in a real-production vehicle.
Vehicle and Powertrain Optimization for Autonomous and Connected Vehicles
Yunli Shao received the B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China, in 2013, and the M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 2015. He is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree at the Automotive Propulsion Control Lab, Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. His research interests are the control, optimization and evaluation of connected vehicles.
Mohd Azrin Mohd Zulkefli received the B.S, M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, in 2006, 2009 and 2017, respectively. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher with the Automotive Propulsion Control Lab, Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. His research interests are optimization and evaluation of hybrid vehicles in the connected vehicle setting.
Zongxuan Sun received the B.S. degree in automatic control from Southeast University, Nanjing, China, in 1995, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana─Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA, in 1998 and 2000, respectively. He is currently Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA, and the Co-Deputy Director of the NSF Engineering Research Center of Compact and Efficient Fluid Power. He was a Staff Researcher (2006─2007) and a Senior Researcher (2000─2006) at General Motors Research and Development Center, Warren, MI, USA. He has published more than 120 refereed technical papers and received 20 U.S. patents. His research interests include controls and mechatronics with applications to automotive propulsion systems.
Shao, Y., Mohd Zulkefli, M. A., and Sun, Z. (September 1, 2017). "Vehicle and Powertrain Optimization for Autonomous and Connected Vehicles." ASME. Mechanical Engineering. September 2017; 139(09): S19–S23. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2017-Sep-6
Download citation file:
