Abstract

This chapter introduces the main technology bricks and some related socioeconomic aspects of automated driving. Vehicles automation technology is advancing at a vertiginous pace. However, the complexity behind some highly uncertain and dynamic driving scenarios imposes the need to distinguish between the different automation levels. This chapter starts from these considerations to elaborate thereafter on the maturity of the currently used technologies—situation awareness, risk assessment, decision-making, human–machine interaction, planning, control—and their near future possibilities. The introduction of connectivity among vehicles and with the digital world brings a number of new opportunities, when combined with automation, that are introduced with the focus on cooperative automated driving. After presenting this technological panorama, different relevant projects are described with the aim to understand the differences between the existing prototypes and the upcoming products and services. In this connection, Verification and Validation is still a contention point that will need to provide solutions to open problems that are also evoked in the chapter. To finalize with a full picture, the current regulatory pathways and some ethical issues are also described.

Abstract

In the field of modern automotive engineering, many researchers are focusing on the development of advanced vehicle control systems such as autonomous vehicle systems and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). Furthermore, Driver Assistance Systems (DAS) such as cruise control, Anti-Lock Braking Systems (ABS), and Electronic Stability Control (ESC) have become widely popular in the automotive industry. Therefore, vehicle control research attracts attention from both academia and industry, and has been an active area of vehicle research for over 30 years, resulting in impressive DAS contributions. Although current vehicle control systems have improved vehicle safety and performance, there is room for improvement for dealing with various situations. The objective of the research is to develop a predictive vehicle control system for improving vehicle safety and performance for autonomous vehicles and ADAS. In order to improve the vehicle control system, the proposed system utilizes information about the upcoming local driving environment such as terrain roughness, elevation grade, bank angle, curvature, and friction. The local driving environment is measured in advance with a terrain measurement system to provide terrain data. Furthermore, in order to obtain the information about road conditions that cannot be measured in advance, this work begins by analyzing the response measurements of a preceding vehicle. The response measurements of a preceding vehicle are acquired through Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) or Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) communication. The identification method analyzes the response measurements of a preceding vehicle to estimate road data. The estimated road data or the pre-measured road data is used as the upcoming driving environment information for the developed vehicle control system. The metric that objectively quantifies vehicle performance, the Performance Margin, is developed to accomplish the control objectives in an efficient manner. The metric is used as a control reference input and continuously estimated to predict current and future vehicle performance. Next, the predictive control algorithm is developed based on the upcoming driving environment and the performance metric. The developed system predicts future vehicle dynamics states using the upcoming driving environment and the Performance Margin. If the algorithm detects the risks of future vehicle dynamics, the control system intervenes between the driver's input commands based on estimated future vehicle states. The developed control system maintains vehicle handling capabilities based on the results of the prediction by regulating the metric into an acceptable range. By these processes, the developed control system ensures that the vehicle maintains stability consistently, and improves vehicle performance for the near future even if there are undesirable and unexpected driving circumstances. To implement and evaluate the integrated systems of this work, the real-time driving simulator, which uses precise real-world driving environment data, has been developed for advanced high computational vehicle control systems. The developed vehicle control system is implemented in the driving simulator, and the results show that the proposed system is a clear improvement on autonomous vehicle systems and ADAS. Ph. D.

Abstract

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) are becoming a widely popular technology for researchers and industry. Many European Projects are dealing with application on automated vehicles, for example on passenger transportation, supporting the deployment of different Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). In that sense, the present work aims to present a first approximation to the design and implementation of an automated electric bus for people transportation within the port of Malaga - Spain. The bus will be instrumented and equipped counting with a dual mode operation where the driver can select between different driving strategies: manual, semi-automated (feet-off or hand-off) or fully automated, being the driver only responsible to be aware of the situation and take control if needed. The scenario presents a challenging environment with pedestrians, vehicles, roundabouts and intersections. An implementation of a robust controller as well as a safety based decision system focused to user comfort and energy efficiency will be developed.

Abstract

Tez (Yüksek Lisans) -- İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü, 2011 Thesis (M.Sc.) -- İstanbul Technical University, Institute of Science and Technology, 2011 İstanbul Teknik Universitesi kampüsü içinde ring aracı olarak kullanılması amaçlanan full elektrikli minibus aracın dizayn ve yapım asamasındaki basamakları bu yüksek lisans tezinde aktarılmıstır. Batarya ve elektrik motoru ile güç aktarımı saglanan elektrikli minibüste, aktarma organı olarak sanzıman kullanılmamıs, sadece difransiyel aradaki mekanik güç aktarımını saglamıstır. Elektrik Motoru, Batarya ve güç yönetim sistemlerinin secim kriterleri detayları ile sunulmustur. Önemli dizayn parametreleri yapısal diagramlar ile aktarılmıstır. Bunun yanı sıra, arac kontrolu ve arac kontrolunu saglayan haberlesme protokolunun uygulamasal olarak araca uygulanısı anlatılmıstır. Enerji tüketimi, maliyet hesaplamaları ve seçilen araç ekipmanlarının performansları detaylı olarak incelenmistir. Araç üstünde kosturulan kontrol algoritması güvenlik ve verimlilik açısından kampüs içinde yapılan testler ile gelistirilmistir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Elektrikli Minibüs, Araç Kontrolü, Haberlesme Protokolü. Electric minibus is planned as a shuttle on Istanbul Technical University, which is presented in this Master of Science thesis and its stages, includes not only scientific but also application stages. This electric minibus is powered by an electric motor and there is no gearbox as power train equipment. The selection steps of electric motor, battery and power electronic units are explained in details. The electric vehicle design parameters are shown with the structural diagrams. Moreover, vehicle control specifications including communication protocol, motor controller and vehicle main controller are given. Energy consumption and performance of selected components are evaluated. Following, the first prototype electric minibus is constructed and tested on university campus. Designed Control process is tested on the vehicle to improve safety and efficiency. Keywords: electric minibus, vehicle control, vehicle efficiency, communication protocol Yüksek Lisans M.Sc.