The 3-year European funded research project eCoMove will develop, test and evaluate a number of ‘green’ transport technologies and applications that will potentially deliver up to 20% CO2 emissions reductions. The eCoMove vision is that of the “perfect eco-driver” travelling through the “perfectly eco-managed” road network. The project will be using the state of the art vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication technologies (so called cooperative systems), to integrate for the first time systems to support “eco-driving” with those for “eco-traffic management”.
Road transport alone is responsible for some 70% of all transport greenhouse gas emissions that in turn make up around 20% of global emissions. The project’s core concept is that a combination of cooperative applications for eco-driving, eco-freight and logistics and eco-traffic management can – for any given trip by a particular vehicle – help to approach the theoretical least possible fuel consumption; without compromising the quality of mobility of people and goods.
Jean Charles Pandazis, Coordinator of the project says: “In reality today, vehicles, drivers and traffic management systems fall short of this ideal, and much fuel is wasted leading to unnecessary CO2 emission.”
Eco-driving support, fuel-optimised navigation and energy-efficient traffic control are the three pillars of eCoMove, which corresponds to the three main causes of energy waste. The project will act on: drivers’ behaviour, route choice and road network management.
In other words, eCoMove will find solutions to help drivers to drive more fuel efficient, to find the “greenest” route and with the best chance of driving through traffic lights on green. Road operators will be allowed to adapt traffic signal parameters and apply other measures to balance the traffic so that vehicles on the network consume the least possible fuel.
Last but not least, the system allows for incentives or other advantages, like cash eco bonuses or priority in traffic, to encourage green driving.
While eco-driving and traffic management measures already exist, the innovation relies in applying cooperative ICTs (information & Communication Technologies) providing real time information, to generate a substantial and sustainable impact.
Contacts:
Project Coordinator:
Jean–Charles Pandazis
ERTICO –ITS Europe
jc.pandazis@mail.ertico.com
+32 2 400 07 14
Press contact:
Ariane Brusselmans
ERTICO –ITS Europe
a.brusselmans@mail.ertico.com
+32 2 400 07 33
