Abstract

Current developments in Car2X communication technology provide the basis for novel driver assistance systems. To assess the impact of such a system on a group of cars approaching a non moving traffic jam, the driver behavior resulting from a system which supports anticipatory driving is modeled and used in a sub-microscopic traffic simulation. By equipping various percentages of a simulated group of cars with the model, the effect of the system on maximum deceleration and fuel consumption can be assessed. Finally the problems resulting from switching between different driver models are discussed. Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

Within the European research project SimpleFleet, a telematics system for fleet management business intelligence was developed, delivering live or near-realtime statistics about individual vehicles or the entire fleet. This supports the fleet manager in ad-hoc decisions and in medium and long term improvements. The fleet vehicles (e.g. taxis, delivery vans) are equipped with an On-Board-Unit (OBU) for GPS tracking and data collection from other sensors, e.g., an engine on/off detector. These raw data are sent to a host system and database, being enhanced to Floating Car Data (FCD) using map-matching and routing. Beside other route-related information, consulted fleet operators expressed their interest especially in fuel consumption calculation. For this purpose the German EWS procedure was chosen, providing 2nd degree polynomial functions of the driven speed. Final results for the test in the Athens region are presented, including the comparison of two calculation approaches with different aggregation levels of driven speeds. Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

An Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) is a system based on wireless communications which has been investigated for many years in order to provide new technologies able to improve safety and efficiency of road transportation with integrated vehicle and road systems. It combines all aspects of technology and systems design concepts in order to develop and improve transportation system of all kinds. ITS, which utilise information and communications technology in vehicle as well as within the roadside infrastructure, can also be used to improve mobility while increasing transport safety, reducing traffic congestion, maximising comfort, and reducing environmental impact (Andrisano et al., 2000). Intelligent transportation systems and applications can improve the quality of travel by selecting routes with up-to-the-minute information data, giving priority to response vehicle teams, notifying drivers about road incidents, and delivering ITS services to drivers. They can reduce fuel consumption by routing the vehicles to their destinations so that fuel waste is significantly reduced, and also fully utilise the capacity of the existing road vehicular networks by controlling the flow of vehicles based on traffic monitoring and detecting congestions. Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

There is a debate among policy analysts about whether fuel taxes alone are the most effective policy to reduce fuel use by motorists, or whether to also use mandatory standards for fuel efficiency. A problem with a policy mandating fuel economy standards is the"rebound effect,"whereby owners with more efficient vehicles increase vehicle usage. If an important part of negative externalities from transport are associated with vehicle kilometers (accidents, congestion, road wear) rather than fuel consumption, the rebound effect increases negative externalities. Taxes and standards should be mutually supportive because fuel taxes often meet political resistance. Over time, fuel efficiency standards can reduce political resistance to fuel taxes. Thus, by raising fuel efficiency standards now, politicians may be able to pursue higher fuel tax paths in the future. Another argument in support of fuel efficiency standards and similar policies is that standards to a greater extent than taxes can be announced in advance and still be credible and change the behavior of inventors, firms, and other agents in society. A further argument is that standards can be used with greater force and commitment through international coordination. Document type: Book

Abstract

In order to address the Signal Setting Design at urban level two main approaches may be pursued: the coordination and the synchronisation approaches depending on the steps considered for the optimisation of decision variables (two steps vs. one step). Furthermore, in terms of objective functions mono-criterion or multi-criteria may be adopted. In this paper the coordination approach is implemented considering the multi-criteria optimisation at single junctions and mono-criterion optimisation at network level whereas the synchronisation is implemented considering the mono-criterion optimisation. The main purpose of the paper is the evaluation of the performances of two strategies not only considering indicators such as the total delay, the queue length etc. but also considering other indicators such as the emissions and the fuel consumption. The methodological framework is composed by three stages: (i) the decision variables (green timings and offsets) computation through optimisation methods; (ii) the implementation of optimal signal settings in a microscopic traffic flow simulator (“Simulation of Urban MObility”-SUMO); (iii) the estimation of emissions and fuel consumption indicators. Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

Using a nested multinomial logit model of car ownership and personal travel in Beijing circa 2005, this paper compares the effectiveness of different policy instruments to reduce traffic congestion and CO2 emissions. The study shows that a congestion toll is more efficient than a fuel tax in reducing traffic congestion, whereas a fuel tax is more effective as a policy instrument for reducing gasoline consumption and emissions. An improvement in car efficiency would also reduce congestion, fuel consumption, and CO2 emissions significantly; however, this policy benefits only richer households that own a car. Low-income households do better under the fuel tax policy than under the efficiency improvement and congestion toll policies. The congestion toll and fuel tax require the travel cost per mile to more than triple. The responsiveness of aggregate fuel and CO2 are, approximately, a 1 percent drop for each 10 percent rise in the money cost of a car trip. Document type: Book

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a solution to reduce the stress level of the driver, minimize fuel consumption and improve safety. The system analyzes the driving style and the driver's workload during the trip while driving. If it discovers an area where the stress increases and the driving style is not appropriate from the point of view of energy efficiency and safety for a particular driver, the location of this area is saved in a shared database. On the other hand, the implemented solution warns a particular user when approaching a region where the driving is difficult (high fuel consumption and stress) using the shared database based on previous recorded knowledge of similar drivers in that area. In this case, the proposal provides an optimal deceleration profile if the vehicle speed is not adequate. Therefore, he or she may adjust the vehicle speed with both a positive impact on the driver workload and fuel consumption. The Data Envelopment Analysis algorithm is used to estimate the efficiency of driving and the driver's workload in in each area. We employ this method because there is no preconceived form on the data in order to calculate the efficiency and stress level. A validation experiment has been conducted using both a driving simulator and a real environment with 12 participants who made 168 driving tests. The system reduced the slowdowns (38%), heart rate (4.70%), and fuel consumption (12.41%) in the real environment. The proposed solution is implemented on Android mobile devices and does not require the installation of infrastructure on the road. It can be installed on any model of vehicle. The research leading to these results has received funding from the “HERMES-SMART DRIVER” project TIN2013- 46801-C4-2-R within the Spanish "Plan Nacional de I+D+I" under the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad and from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad funded projects (co-financed by the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER)) IRENE (PT-2012-1036-370000), COMINN (IPT-2012-0883-430000) and REMEDISS (IPT-2012-0882-430000) within the INNPACTO program. Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

Nowadays, city streets are populated not only by private vehicles but also by public transport, fleets of workers, and deliveries. Since each vehicle class has a maximum cargo capacity, we study in this article how authorities could improve the road traffic by endorsing long term policies to change the different vehicle proportions: sedans, minivans, full size vans, trucks, and motorbikes, without losing the ability of moving cargo throughout the city. We have performed our study in a realistic scenario (map, road traffic characteristics, and number of vehicles) of the city of Malaga and captured the many details into the SUMO microsimulator. After analyzing the relationship between travel times, emissions, and fuel consumption, we have defined a multiobjective optimization problem to be solved, so as to minimize these city metrics. Our results provide a scientific evidence that we can improve the delivery of goods in the city by reducing the number of heavy duty vehicles and fostering the use of vans instead. Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. This research has been partially funded by the Spanish MINECO and FEDER projects TIN2014-57341-R, TIN2016-81766-REDT, and TIN2017-88213-R. University of Malaga, Andalucia TECH. Daniel H. Stolfi is supported by a FPU grant (FPU13/00954) from the Spanish MECD. Christian Cintrano is supported by a FPI grant (BES-2015-074805) from Spanish MINECO. Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

This paper assesses whether the level of taxation of motor fuel is broadly appropriate in a group of countries (OECD, BRICs and South Africa) accounting for more than 80 percent of world greenhouse gas emissions. The analysis deals with emissions from oil combustion in transport, which account for about 40 percent of carbon dioxide emissions. In the benchmark specification, six countries (responsible, in turn, for more than 40 percent of worldwide motor-fuel greenhouse gas world emissions) would be undertaxing motor fuel. The authors evaluate the sensitivity of the results to the values of the elasticities and externalities that used in the analysis. They find that varying the values of these parameters (within the level of uncertainty reasonably associated with them) significantly affects the results. This implies that, while informative, the results must be taken as indicative. Further analysis for a particular country must rely on a well-informed choice for the values of the country-specific parameters. Document type: Book