Using mobility information to perform a feasibility study and the evaluation of spatio-temporal energy demanded by an electric taxi fleet

Half of the global population already lives in urban areas, facing to the problem of air pollution mainly caused by the transportation system. The recently worsening of urban air quality has a direct impact on the human health. Replacing today’s internal combustion engine vehicles with electric ones in public fleets could provide a deep impact on the air quality in the cities. In this paper, real mobility information is used as decision support for the taxi fleet manager to promote the adoption of electric taxi cabs in the city of San Francisco, USA. Firstly, mobility characteristics and energy requirements of a single taxi are analyzed. Then, the results are generalized to all vehicles from the taxi fleet. An electrificability rate of the taxi fleet is generated, providing information about the number of current trips that could be performed by electric taxis without modifying the current driver mobility patterns. The analysis results reveal that 75.2% of the current taxis could be replaced by electric vehicles, considering a current standard battery capacity (24–30 kWh). This value can increase significantly (to 100%), taking into account the evolution of the price and capacity of the batteries installed in the last models of electric vehicles that are coming to the market. The economic analysis shows that the purchasing costs of an electric taxi are bigger than conventional one. However, fuel, maintenance and repair costs are much lower. Using the expected energy consumption information evaluated in this study, the total spatio-temporal demand of electric energy required to recharge the electric fleet is also calculated, allowing identifying optimal location of charging infrastructure based on realistic routing patterns. This information could also be used by the distribution system operator to identify possible reinforcement actions in the electric grid in order to promote introducing electric vehicles

Data driven spatio-temporal analysis of e-cargo bike network in Lisbon and its expansion: The Yoob case study

The adoption of more environmentally friendly and sustainable fleets for last-mile parcel delivery within large urban centers has been on the rise. Cargo bikes have been the most common alternative. The implementation of this type of fleet has proven to bring benefits, but has evidenced some limitations. The infrastructure network, which supports urban logistics, had to adapt to respond to the requirements of this new type of fleet. The implementation of micro-hubs and nano-hubs was the solution. Our study has two main objectives. The first objective is to perform a spatiotemporal characterization of fleet behavior, by conducting a case study where we explored the data from YOOB (a last mile delivery logistics start-up that operates in the Lisbon area and outskirts) e-cargo bike fleet. And the second is to identify potential expansion locations to the establishment of new hubs. The work procedures followed the CRIPS-DM methodology and the collected data was based on a 4-month period (January to April 2022). By adopting data science and machine learning techniques, five types of performances of YOOB fleet were identified, with variations in distances traveled, times, volumes transported and speeds. In the perspective of expanding YOOB's e-cargo bike network, three new locations in Lisbon were signaled for potential new hub installation.A adoção de frotas mais ecológicas e sustentáveis para a distribuição das encomendas na última milha dentro dos grandes centros urbanos tem vindo a crescer. As bicicletas de carga têm sido a alternativa mais comum. A implementação deste tipo de frotas, demonstrou trazer benefícios, mas evidenciou algumas limitações. A rede de infraestruturas, que serve de suporte á logística urbana, teve de se adaptar para poder responder às necessidades deste novo tipo de frotas. A implementação de microhubs e nano-hubs foram a alternativa. O nosso estudo tem dois objetivos principais. O primeiro objetivo é o de fazer uma caracterização espácio temporal dos comportamentos da frota, através de um estudo de caso onde efetuámos a exploração dos dados da frota de e-cargo bike da YOOB (start-up logística de entregas na última milha que atua na área de Lisboa e na periferia). E o segundo consiste em identificar potenciais locais de expansão para a instalação de novos hubs no mesmo estudo de caso. Nos processos de trabalho foi seguida a metodologia CRISP-DM e os dados recolhidos foram referentes a um período de 4 meses (Janeiro a Abril de 2022). Com recurso a técnicas de ciência dos dados e aprendizagem automática, foram identificados cinco tipos de desempenhos da frota da YOOB, com variações em distâncias percorridas, tempos efetuados, volumes transportados e velocidades praticadas. Numa perspetiva de expansão da rede de e-cargo bike da YOOB, forma identificados três novos locais na cidade de Lisboa para a instalação potencial de novos hubs

Towards a WHAT-WHY-HOW Taxonomy of Trajectories in Visualization Research

Effective analysis of movement often requires a comprehensive approach where computational and visual methods are combined to address a wide variety of tasks involving movers with diverse characteristics. In order to help the process of designing effective methods for a wide range of movement analysis cases, we develop a provisional taxonomy that links what Brehmer et al. [BM13] term statements of WHY-WHAT-HOW with tasks, types of movers, context and methods used to compute or visualize data. Within this document we present the origin of this taxonomy, the process we followed to populate it, discuss the novel categories within it, and finally use it to explore relationships between elements of trajectory analysis. Our main contribution is to provide a new means of connecting elements of WHY-WHAT-HOW when analysing trajectories

System-of-Systems Considerations in the Notional Development of a Metropolitan Aerial Transportation System

There are substantial future challenges related to sustaining and improving efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly transportation options for urban regions. Over the past several decades there has been a worldwide trend towards increasing urbanization of society. Accompanying this urbanization are increasing surface transportation infrastructure costs and, despite public infrastructure investments, increasing surface transportation "gridlock." In addition to this global urbanization trend, there has been a substantial increase in concern regarding energy sustainability, fossil fuel emissions, and the potential implications of global climate change. A recently completed study investigated the feasibility of an aviation solution for future urban transportation (refs. 1, 2). Such an aerial transportation system could ideally address some of the above noted concerns related to urbanization, transportation gridlock, and fossil fuel emissions (ref. 3). A metro/regional aerial transportation system could also provide enhanced transportation flexibility to accommodate extraordinary events such as surface (rail/road) transportation network disruptions and emergency/disaster relief responses

Energy-Efficient and Semi-automated Truck Platooning

This open access book presents research and evaluation results of the Austrian flagship project “Connecting Austria,” illustrating the wide range of research needs and questions that arise when semi-automated truck platooning is deployed in Austria. The work presented is introduced in the context of work in similar research areas around the world. This interdisciplinary research effort considers aspects of engineering, road-vehicle and infrastructure technologies, traffic management and optimization, traffic safety, and psychology, as well as potential economic effects. The book’s broad perspective means that readers interested in current and state-of-the-art methods and techniques for the realization of semi-automated driving and with either an engineering background or with a less technical background gain a comprehensive picture of this important subject. The contributors address many questions such as: Which maneuvers does a platoon typically have to carry out, and how? How can platoons be integrated seamlessly in the traffic flow without becoming an obstacle to individual road users? What trade-offs between system information (sensors, communication effort, etc.) and efficiency are realistic? How can intersections be passed by a platoon in an intelligent fashion? Consideration of diverse disciplines and highlighting their meaning for semi-automated truck platooning, together with the highlighting of necessary research and evaluation patterns to address such a broad task scientifically, makes Energy-Efficient and Semi-automated Truck Platooning a unique contribution with methods that can be extended and adapted beyond the geographical area of the research reported

Vulnerable road users and connected autonomous vehicles interaction: a survey

There is a group of users within the vehicular traffic ecosystem known as Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs). VRUs include pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, among others. On the other hand, connected autonomous vehicles (CAVs) are a set of technologies that combines, on the one hand, communication technologies to stay always ubiquitous connected, and on the other hand, automated technologies to assist or replace the human driver during the driving process. Autonomous vehicles are being visualized as a viable alternative to solve road accidents providing a general safe environment for all the users on the road specifically to the most vulnerable. One of the problems facing autonomous vehicles is to generate mechanisms that facilitate their integration not only within the mobility environment, but also into the road society in a safe and efficient way. In this paper, we analyze and discuss how this integration can take place, reviewing the work that has been developed in recent years in each of the stages of the vehicle-human interaction, analyzing the challenges of vulnerable users and proposing solutions that contribute to solving these challenges.This work was partially funded by the Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness of Spain under Grant: Supervision of drone fleet and optimization of commercial operations flight plans, PID2020-116377RB-C21.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Energy-Efficient and Semi-automated Truck Platooning

This open access book presents research and evaluation results of the Austrian flagship project “Connecting Austria,” illustrating the wide range of research needs and questions that arise when semi-automated truck platooning is deployed in Austria. The work presented is introduced in the context of work in similar research areas around the world. This interdisciplinary research effort considers aspects of engineering, road-vehicle and infrastructure technologies, traffic management and optimization, traffic safety, and psychology, as well as potential economic effects. The book’s broad perspective means that readers interested in current and state-of-the-art methods and techniques for the realization of semi-automated driving and with either an engineering background or with a less technical background gain a comprehensive picture of this important subject. The contributors address many questions such as: Which maneuvers does a platoon typically have to carry out, and how? How can platoons be integrated seamlessly in the traffic flow without becoming an obstacle to individual road users? What trade-offs between system information (sensors, communication effort, etc.) and efficiency are realistic? How can intersections be passed by a platoon in an intelligent fashion? Consideration of diverse disciplines and highlighting their meaning for semi-automated truck platooning, together with the highlighting of necessary research and evaluation patterns to address such a broad task scientifically, makes Energy-Efficient and Semi-automated Truck Platooning a unique contribution with methods that can be extended and adapted beyond the geographical area of the research reported

Methodology Development For The Construction Of A Driving Cycle In Order To Determine The Exhaust Emissions Of Road Vehicles

Tez (Doktora) -- İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü, 2013Thesis (PhD) -- İstanbul Technical University, Institute of Science and Technology, 2013Belirli bir bölgede karayolları taşıtlarından kaynaklanan emisyonların hassas olarak tahmin edilebilmesi, o bölgedeki taşıt kullanım karakteristiğinin hangi hassaslıkta temsil edilebildiğine bağlıdır. Bir bölgedeki taşıt kullanım karakteristiği şehir çevrimi olarak adlandırılan bir hız-zaman profili ile temsil edilir. Bu çalışmada, karayolları taşıtlarından kaynaklanan egzoz gazı emisyonlarının belirlenmesi için gerçek bir şehir çevrimi oluşturma metodolojisi geliştirilmiştir. Bu metodolojiye göre, belirli kriterlere göre seçilmiş rotalarda gerçek sürüş datası toplanır ve bu data küçük mikro yolculuklara ayrılır. Bu mikro yolculukların, belirlenmiş çevrim uzunluğu ya da süresi yakalanana pek yarı rastgele bir algoritma ile uc uca eklenmesiyle şehir çevrimleri oluşturulmuş olur. Oluşturulan her çevrimin ilgili bölgenin sürüş karakteristiğini ne ölçüde temsil ettiği bazı karşılaştırma kriterleri kullanarak değerlendirilir. Bu değerlendirme sonucu bölgenin sürüş karakteristiklerini en yakın temsil eden çevrim o bölgenin şehir çevrimi olarak seçilir. Bu metodolojiye uygun olarak bir de pratik bir uygulama yapılmıştır. İstanbul için yukarıda özetlenen metoda göre bir şehir çevrimi oluşturulmuştur. Karşılaştırma kriterlerine göre, oluşturulan İstanbul şehir çevrimi İstanbul’ un sürüş karakteristiğini oldukça hassas olarak temsil edebilmektedir. Buna ek olarak, gerçek sürüş koşullarında varolan yolun eğim etkisinin, şehir çevriminin koşturulacağını şasi dinamometresinde nasıl temsil edilebileceğiyle ilgili bir metod önerilmiştir. Bu metodla, şasi dinamometresinde donanım ve yazılım ile ilgili bir güncellemeye gerek kalmadan, herhangi bir rota için yolun eğim etkisi konvansiyonel bir dinamometrede temsil edilebilir.Identifying the driving patterns in a specific region plays a crucial role for the accurate estimation of exhaust emissions of road vehicles. The driving pattern in a specific region can be represented as a driving cycle, which is a vehicle speed-time profile. In this study, a methodology is proposed to develop a real-world driving cycle for the estimation of exhaust gas emissions of road vehicles. Real world statistical data is collected on pre-defined routes and this data is sequenced into micro-trips. Series of micro-trips are selected with a quasi-random approach until the traveled distance of the driving cycle reaches a predefined limit. Each developed driving cycle is evaluated with respect to the real world test data by using specific comparison criteria and the driving cycle that best represents the driving characteristics of the specific region is chosen as the final driving cycle. A practical application of this methodology is put into practice for the city of İstanbul. According to the comparison criteria, the generated city cycle represents the driving characteristics of İstanbul very accurately. Additionally, a methodology is presented to represent the grade effect of real world driving conditions on a flat chassis dynamometer testing facility. With this method, the grade work of any trajectory can be represented on a conventional chassis dynamometer without any hardware or software update.DoktoraPh

Infraestructure readiness for autonomous vehicles

This study is aimed at identifying the major challenges in the infraestructure design, operation and maintenance to allow the implementation of Autonomous Vehicles in interurban and urban road network

Understanding the variability in vehicle dynamics and emissions at urban obstacles

Roadworks are a feature of the road network that can cause vehicles to deviate from their desired speed or trajectory. This may negatively impact traditional measures of network performance such as travel time, or result in changes to tailpipe emission rates. The impact of roadworks on tailpipe emission rates is of interest due to the harmful pollutants that are released during the combustion process. Pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) are toxic to humans, and carbon dioxide (CO2) is a greenhouse believed to influence human-induced global climate change. In order to investigate methods of reducing the environmental impact of roadworks and other obstacles in the road network, modelling tools may be used. However, it is essential that the tools are appropriate for modelling these features of the road network. In order to assess the suitability of existing traffic and emission modelling tools, an understanding of the variability in vehicle dynamics and emissions at urban obstacles is first required. In this thesis, a dataset that contains real-world tailpipe emissions and vehicle dynamics data, from vehicles in the vicinity of urban obstacles such as roadworks, is assembled. This is achieved using a portable emission measurement system (PEMS) and a high-resolution trajectory monitoring platform developed as part of this research. Through analysis of the acceleration behaviour and tailpipe emission rates at different urban obstacles and from different vehicles, an understanding of the variability is formed. The findings from the analysis of behaviours observed in the vicinity of urban obstacles are then used to adapt existing traffic and emissions modelling tools. The error between measured and modelled emissions is shown to reduce from over 30% to under 12% for CO2 emissions. Based on the findings of a roadworks case study, recommendations are made to policy makers and the modelling community.Open Acces