Automatic parallel parking and platooning to redistribute electric vehicles in a car-sharing application

International audienceIn car-sharing applications and during certain time slots, some parking parks become full whereas others are empty. To redress this imbalance, vehicle redistribution strategies must be elaborated. As automatic relocation cannot be in place, one alternative is to get a leader vehicle, driven by a human, which come to pick up and drop off vehicles over the stations. This paper deals with the vehicle redistribution problem among parking using this strategy and focuses on automatic parking and vehicle's platooning. We present an easy exit parking controller and path planning based only on geometric approach and vehicle's characteristics. Once the vehicle exits the parking, it joins a platoon of vehicles and follows it automatically to go to an empty parking space

Platoon Route Optimization for Picking up Automated Vehicles in an Urban Network

International audienceIn this paper, we consider the problem of vehicle collection assisted by a fleet manager where parked vehicles are collected and guided by fleet managers. Each platoon follows a calculated and optimized route to collect and guide the parked vehicles to their final destinations. The Platoon Route Optimization for Picking up Automated Vehicles problem, called PROPAV, consists in minimizing the collection duration, the number of platoons and the total energy required by the platoon leaders. We propose a formal definition of PROPAV as an integer linear programming problem, and then we show how to use the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II), to deal with this multi-criteria optimization problem. Results in various configurations are presented to demonstrate the capabilities of NSGA-II to provide well-distributed Pareto-front solutions

A game theory‐based route planning approach for automated vehicle collection

International audienceWe consider a shared transportation system in an urban environment where human drivers collect vehicles that are no longer being used. Each driver, also called a platoon leader, is in charge of driving collected vehicles as a platoon to bring them back to some given location (e.g. an airport, a railway station). Platoon allocation and route planning for picking up and returning automated vehicles is one of the major issues of shared transportation systems that need to be addressed. In this paper, we propose a coalition game approach to compute 1) the allocation of unused vehicles to a minimal number of platoons, 2) the optimized tour of each platoon and 3) the minimum energy consumed to collect all these vehicles. In this coalition game, the players are the parked vehicles, and the coalitions are the platoons that are formed. This game, where each player joins the coalition that maximizes its payoff, converges to a stable solution. The quality of the solution obtained is evaluated with regard to three optimization criteria and its complexity is measured by the computation time required. Simulation experiments are carried out in various configurations. They show that this approach is very efficient to solve the multi-objective optimization problem considered, since it provides the optimal number of platoons in less than a second for 300 vehicles to be collected, and considerably outperforms other well-known optimization approaches like MOPSO (Multi-Objective Particle Swarm Optimization) and NSGA-II (Non dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm)

Linking the knowledge economy, urban intensity and transport in post-industrial cities with a case study of Perth, Western Australia

Cities in post-industrial economies are characterised by a multi-layered intensification of knowledge. This intensification occurs through: • agglomeration of knowledge economic activity; • human capital knowledge; and • the means of knowledge exchange i.e. ICT and transport. This thesis proposes an intensification of key walkable urban centres, particularly universities. Knowledge urban intensification is heavily reliant on rail and walking transport intensification

Exploring an ideal car club design from a user's perspective

In the current transport landscape, where chronic problems such as congestion, insufficient parking spaces and air pollution beset urban areas, car sharing has been suggested as an alternative to mitigate these issues. With the emergence and growing popularity of the sharing economy, a shifting perception towards car ownership has paved the way towards rapid growth in shared mobility. The car club – or car sharing – as a service, enables people to go without their own car, yet use one when they need to. This flexible transport option has grown rapidly in many metropolises around the world. In London, it is forecast that the total number of round-trips car club memberships will increase from 137,000 in 2013 to approximately 264,000 by 2020 (Frost & Sullivan, 2014). As car sharing’s popularity rises, it is critical to better understand car club users with their varied lifestyles and mindsets. Therefore, this research focuses on obtaining an in-depth understanding of car club users and exploring more deeply the role of the car club from the users’ perspective. Three key questions were asked: 1. What are the users’ perspectives towards existing car clubs? 2. What are their key suggestions as to how to improve the car club model? 3. What are the critical aspects of the proposed car club model, from the users’ perspective? The research adopts a multidisciplinary approach, with further contextual research and expert interviews with service designers in order to evaluate the role service design might play in enticing more people to consider the use of such mobility services in the future. The ultimate aim of this research is to provide a set of mobility service guidelines designed to enhance the overall level of user experience for car clubs. Advancing the operating models of car clubs should help existing operators fulfil their role as a more adaptable and reliable alternative transport mode in urban areas. The research outcome is expected to contribute to current car club operators’ future plans and provide guidance for vehicle OEMs when developing their own mobility models in the future