'InfoRich' Eco-Driving Control Strategy for Connected and Automated Vehicles

Among all advanced energy improvement technologies sought after to reduce the energy footprint, connected and automated vehicle (CAV) technologies hold a special promise of simultaneously improving energy efficiency, safety, and mobility. This work explored the significant opportunities exist in reducing the overall vehicle energy consumption through optimizing the vehicle dynamics and powertrain controls in a coordinated fashion utilizing preview information. A practical solution of Eco-Approach, -Departure, and-Cruise were proposed in this paper. These eco-applications were then integrated with autonomous driving modules. The integrated driver model can perform those eco-applications while navigating through a comprehensive traffic scenario designed on a high-fidelity virtual simulator developed for this project. Overall performance was compared with that of the baseline autonomous driver model to show the fuel economy improvement.