The eCoMove project is officially under way! This 3-year research project will develop test and validate a number of “Green ITS” technologies and applications using vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication to integrate for the first time systems to support “eco-driving” with those for “eco-traffic management”.

In the eCoMove vision the “perfect eco-driver” will in future travel through the “perfectly eco-managed” road network. The project’s core concept is that a combination of cooperative applications for eco-driving and for eco-traffic management can – for any given trip by a particular driver in a particular vehicle – help to approach the theoretical least possible fuel consumption (and thus CO2 emissions)… and this without compromising the quality of mobility of people and goods.

In reality today vehicles drivers and traffic management systems fall short of this ideal and much fuel is wasted and CO2 emitted unnecessarily. The eCoMove innovations target the two main sources of this avoidable fuel consumption i.e. trips by private vehicles and those by goods vehicles and tackle energy inefficiency in three domains: drivers’ behaviour route choice and traffic management.

Integrated Green-Mobility Solutions

The eCoMove applications are intended to bring major improvements to road transport energy use by using the latest vehicle-to-infrastructure communication technologies:

  • A dynamic ecoSmartDriving “virtual coach” that provides advice to adapt driving behaviour for minimum fuel use but also personalised recommendations based on driving experience for eco-driving optimisation;
  • Dynamic eco-pre-TripPlanning and on trip Green Routing tools to select the lowest energy route;
  • An ecoDriver Coaching System that combines dynamic eco-driving support with training and incentive systems for commercial vehicle drivers;
  • An ecoFleet Planning & Routing application combining eco-driving support and logistics planning for commercial vehicles with energy-efficient traffic control measures e.g. selective priority for trucks;
  • An ecoAdaptive Balancing & Control system that applies local energy-optimised strategies for traffic control e.g. traffic light coordination based on a map of energy “hot-spots”;
  • ecoMotorway Management measures that combine eco-support of individual vehicles with energy-optimised traffic management measures on the interurban network.

When combined these mainly independent but interacting applications can potentially deliver up to 20% overall fuel savings and CO2 emissions reduction.


These important innovations are enabled by the use of cooperative information exchange: drivers and road operators can benefit from extra real time information — such as vehicle fuel consumption data speed route destination traffic signal phase data etc — which help them to drive more economically.
 
Ensuring Data Privacy and Security

The eCoMove data collected from individual vehicles do not need to be personalised indeed they must be anonymised so that no individual personal data are communicated.

As a general principle throughout the project only the minimum data will be collected and communicated which are necessary to enable the application. Where detailed driver behaviour data need to be stored and analysed on board the vehicle they will not be linked to that driver’s personal data.

Issues of data privacy and data security will be analysed during the requirements definition and validation phases. In addition a methodology for ensuring personal data security and privacy protection will be embedded in the high-level architecture and data management processes.

A High Level of Integration

Due to its complexity and large scale the eCoMove project is composed of “sub-projects” developing solutions for eco-driving support for car drivers for trucks and eco-freight and logistics management. A third sub-project is developing applications for cooperative eco-traffic management and control while the “core technologies integration” sub-project both ensures technical coordination across the project and develops common core technologies.

Finally a dedicated sub-project will validate the eCoMove developments assessing the potential impact of eCoMove solutions on driver behaviour mobility traffic network efficiency and environmental issues and examine the costs and benefits of deployment.

Nevertheless a full evaluation of cooperative traffic management strategies needs a high penetration of equipped vehicles which cannot be achieved in reality at the eCoMove test sites.

For that reason a simulation environment will be set up to test and validate the eCoMove applications.

About the eCoMove Project

The eCoMove project brings together a multi-disciplinary team to develop the necessary new tools to support energy-efficient driving based on cooperative traffic control and infrastructure.

Coordinator: ERTICO – ITS Europe
Consortium: ASFA AVL LIST BMW Forschung und Technik Robert Bosch Cobra Automotive Technologies. Continental Automotive Centro Ricerche FIAT Fundación para la Promoción de la Innovación Investigación y Desarollo Tecnológico en la Industria de Automoción de Galicia DAF Trucks. Deutsches Zentrum für Luft und Raumfahrt Ford Forschungszentrum Aachen GoGreen Trafik & Miljö Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen Logica Magneti Marelli MAT.TRAFFIC Meta System NAVTEQ NEC Europe PEEK Traffic Planung Transport Verkehr Q-Free Fundacio Privada RACC Fundación Robotiker Technolution Tele Atlas Telecom Italia TNO Technische Universität München VIALIS Traffic VOLVO Technology
 

Duration: April 2010 – March 2013
Funding: €13.7M grant by the European Union 7th Framework Programme of Research and Technological Development Theme 3: Information and Communication Technologies.

 

Link to original Article

http://www.ertico.com/ecomove-kicks-off/

Original Publication Date: Mon 26 Jul 2010