The first session of eCoMove was hosted by representatives of different sectors of the road transport chain.
Detlef Kuck (Ford Research Centre) explained that road transports alone are responsible for 70% of all transport greenhouse emissions and 22% of this percentage is caused by inefficient deceleration and lack of anticipation. Other factors of greenhouse emissions are congestion and fast driving. Over the past 3 and half years, eCoMove looked at those inefficiencies generated by road transport that have an impact on CO2 emissions. These inefficiencies are related to different factors such as vehicle conditions (maintenance conditions, tyre conditions, etc.), inefficient trip planning (route choice, travel timing, etc.), energy consumers (airco, windows open, etc.), inefficient routing (looking for a parking space, lane choice, etc.), and driving styles (wrong gear choice, acceleration, speed, etc.). All the applications developed by eCoMove looked at giving support to drivers to avoid bad behaviours responsible for inefficiencies.
Tijn Schmits (EXCEPT formerly working for CGI) explained the architecture (and its complexity) behind the project applications and how to integrate people within the architecture by creating a common language. Mr Schmits illustrated that the applications can be used for vehicles as well as for freight and logistics. eCoMove looked at the creation of a communication network between personal (mobile phone), central (traffic management centre), vehicle, and road side unit communications.
Paul Mathias (MAT Traffic) spoke about the strategies to manage the road networks. CO2 reduction is linked to several factors: reduction of traffic demand, network capacities, routing schemes, traffic flow smoothness, and driver behaviour. For each of these factors eCoMove developed several applications such as ecoGreen Wave, ecoTrip planning, ecoNavigation, ecoRouting, ecoDriving support, etc.
During the session, Paul Mathias focused on the macroscopic approach of the project explaining the two different models used in two different test sites; the ecoStrategic model in Helmond (The Netherlands) and the ecoNetwork prediction in Munich (Germany). He showed how the differences between the real situation and the eco-optimal situation that is provided by eCoMove which can produce a large reduction of CO2 up to 25%.
Philipp Thermann (Ika) spoke about the ecoSituational model on prediction in cooperative networks on a microscopic approach, therefore focusing on the individual vehicle and driver. The entities that affect the traffic are the driver (driving skills, personal preferences, etc.), the vehicle (type, load, etc.), and driving environment (road infrastructure, other vehicles, pedestrians, etc.).
Jaap Vreeswijk (Imtech), responsible for the intersections in eCoMove, spoke about the application use cases based on V2I interaction. In this respect he took into consideration different themes: traffic signal control – which is the road operator perspective; driving behaviour – by providing the messages (traffic signal phase data message; speed and lane advice message; intersection topology message) which advice on the speed to maintain for example or toward which tolling system go; route guidance – such as providing information on parking accessibility, incidents, etc.
The first session was concluded by Philpp Gilka (DLR) who focused on some research questions established before the project work started. These are related to environment, mobility and driver behaviour. eCoMove carried on validation and evaluation activities which investigated on the utility of eco-driving systems, on motivation and behavioural change, as well as the potential energy savings.
A road map for the eCoMove systems and applications is still standing and needs to be defined.
