Partner und Internationale Organisationen
(Englisch)
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Technischer Überwachungs Verein (TÜV Rheinland) eV (D), Centro Ricerche Fiat S.c.p.A. (I), Centro Studi sui Sistemi di Trasporto S.p.A. (I), City of Turin (I), GIE PSA Peugeot Citroen (F), Jaguar Cars Ltd (UK), A.D.C. GmbH (CH), Lucas Advanced Engineering Centre (UK), Mizar Automagione S.p.A. (I), Renault Recherche Innovation (EIG) (F), Thomson CSF (F)
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Abstract
(Englisch)
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The UDC project covers the five phases of Research and Technological Development and
Demonstration. In the first year the project starts with the analysis of user requirements followed by the functional specification and vehicle development.
Project Summary
The intention behind the URBAN DRIVE CONTROL project is to integrate environment and city management with individual drivers' interests, by combining remote driving speed recommendations with autonomous dinal control of vehicles. The project will adapt and improve the existing technology, which has been developed for speed and distance control on highways, for operation in urban areas. The objective is to integrate traffic management and vehicle longitudinal control. It will use Short-Range Communication (SRC) technology transmitting driving-speed recommendations via road-side beacons to vehicles equipped with Autonomous Cruise Control (ACC). Following analysis of user needs and definition of scenarios for UDC systems, four vehicles from different manufacturers will be prepared to run tests in the city of Turin. System Architecture design and Evaluation activities will prepare the ground for further investigations in this and related applications. These will lead to a comprehensive demonstration of this Advanced Telematics Transport application as a follow-up. Environmental awareness and increased traffic density create greater demand for reduced pollution and increased efficiency. It is expected that intelligent vehicles interacting with traffic management systems will have positive effects on:
- traffic flow through city streets
- journey times in the city
- harmonisation of traffic flow
- levels of noise and pollution
- number of collisions
- driver comfort
- increased safety, by assisting drivers in their driving, task and decision workload.
The economic and social impact of UDC systems will be significant, both for the communities concerned and for technology development. The market for technology in the domain of active safety is enormous, with an expected penetration level comparable to the anti-lock brake. Autonomous longitudinal vehicle control combined with urban traffic management has corresponding potential to enhance safety, and optimise throughput and care of the environment.
Major Validation Sites
City of Turin, IT
Users
Two groups of users will be directly addressed by the UDC project: intermediate users who operate transport systems, i.e. operators and the authorities, and the end user, the driver of the individual vehicles.
Approach
Beacons for Short Range Communications, operating at 5.8 GHz, will be used to send speed profile recommendations to vehicles equipped with autonomous distance and speed control (ACC). User needs studies will clarify the degree of assistance that is appropriate for drivers for Stop&Go in dense traffic situations. A verification of the overall system architecture will be carried out with at least four vehicles.
Expected Benefits
- harmonisation of traffic flow on arterial roads
- contribution to a reduction of average travel time with an expected reduction of fuel
consumption and pollutant emissions
- increase to safety, road capacity (estimated from the DRIVE II Primavera project at 10%) and traffic flow at intersections (estimated at 20%)
- reduction of drivers' workload and reduced probability of errors with positive effects for comfort and safety
- preparing of the ground for large-scale demonstration of the envisaged system architecture
- new markets for suppliers of components, sub-systems and systems for microwave and image processing technology and for the automotive industries the possibility
- of exploiting a market comparable to the one for anti-lock brakes.
Contribution to EU Policies
This work will contribute to international guidelines and specifications and help to establish an integrated approach in Europe.
UDC - System Specification and Evaluation
UDC contributes to the integration of traffic management and vehicle longitudinal control: driving speed recommendations are sent via short range communication beacons to vehicles equipped with adaptive distance and speed control.
Setting the Scene
Environmental awareness and traffic density demand on vehicles with reduced pollution and increased traffic efficiency to optimally transport people and goods in a safe and comfortable manner. The (UDC) project intends to integrate the environmental and city interests with that of the individual driver's interests. UDC will prepare the ground for remote speed advice and driving speed recommendations, calculated at a traffic management centre, and to transmit this information to vehicles with an adaptive and autonomous longitudinal control system at low speed. The objectives of this project are to specify, build and evaluate the integration of traffic management and vehicle longitudinal control for the travel on main arterial roads in cities.
Approach
The UDC system is intended for adaptations and improvements of the existing technology developed for speed and distance control on highways to perform also in urban areas. The integrative approach of UDC is reflected by the layout of the System Architecture. An advanced Urban Traffic Management, using actual street-map data and model-based travel optimisation, is permanently picking-up on-line traffic data and calculating speed profile recommendations for road segments. By using the city's data network it is possible to provide timely and accurate travel information to individual users.
Local transponders, based on Short Range Communication (SRC 5.8 GHz) technology, transmit these driving recommendations via road-side beacons to vehicles equipped with a modified Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) for Stop & Assisted Go functionality. Electronic throttle and brake control of the vehicles are performed by an intelligent controller. This controller takes, in addition to the recommended speed profile from the 'city', several surrounding measurements into consideration. Range finder sensors then control the spacing to the proceeding vehicle.
Results and Achievements
Intelligent vehicle control interacting with the city's traffic management systems have demonstrated positive effects on:
- traffic flow increased by 6%
- journey times reduction
- harmonisation of traffic flow
- pollution reduction up to 14%
- reduction of collisions
- increased driver comfort and
- potential safety benefits by assisting drivers in driving task and decreasing workload.
The UDC concept will lead to a harmonisation of traffic flow on arterial roads. As one element of the city's traffic management architecture this contributes to a reduction of average travel time (for
the driving task) with an expected reduction of fuel consumption and pollutant emissions.
Recommended speed profiles from the Traffic Management Centre are directly included in the
driver-vehicle-environ-ment interaction loop and thereby assisting traffic harmonisation. The UDC
project specified the necessary requirements and verified the system functionality from the city or
operator point of view as well as from the driver's point of view. This work introduces Advanced
Telematics Traffic Applications and aims in benefiting from an integrative approach.
Conclusions and Plans for the Future
The economic and social impact of UDC systems will be greatly beneficial for both - communities
and technology development. The expected market for the automotive industry is enormous with
an envisaged penetration level comparable to anti-lock brake systems in the domain of active
safety. With the results and feedback by end-users from one implementation of the system functionality in a pilot study, the consortia - together with other relevant partners - is interested in further research and development of this type of integrative mobility concepts. With the experience of the UDC R&D project the partnership has outlined further investigation studies into
- System Safety work
- Human-machine interface and interaction work
- Standardisation activities
- Additional implementation sites and a broader coverage of traffic scenarios.
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