Identifying the optimal driving cycle based on on-board sensors event data in internal-combustion vehicles

Abstract

Innovation in the electronics industry has led to an unprecedented degree of sophistication in the automotive industry. As a direct outcome, the driving experience in passenger vehicles is safer and easier than ever before. These improvements have been most visible in the past two decades. One of the main application areas which has been positively impacted is the area of diagnostics. The technology in this area has proven to be extremely versatile to the extent that it has been adapted to other areas beyond diagnostics, not least in the area of fuel consumption and car emission. Car electronics have been used to process data which enables the reduction of fuel consumption directly improving engine efficiency and reducing emissions. Vehicle emissions are a cause for concern for manufacturers, authorities and car owners. One way to reduce fuel consumption is to change the driving style or driving behaviour to a style known as ecodriving. This method of operating a vehicle in the most efficient way is readily available and free and yet not straight forward. The scope of this project is to utilize readily available data on board a vehicle, to analyze and model real world driving styles and suggest the optimal driving style to reach maximum fuel efficiency of internal combustion vehicles. The main objectives have been achieved: designing a low-cost vehicle data collection system that makes use of the readily available OBD2 standard technology in our vehicles; a method for analysing the effects of driving style on fuel consumption; and developing a proof of concept system which analyses and classifies the driving style. Unlike other reviewed solutions and frameworks in the literature the proposed system collects the data and centrally processes the information for use by several stake holders such as scientists, researchers, authorities, traffic management organisations, certification agencies amongst others. There is no doubt that a change in driving style reduces fuel consumption significantly leading to a positive effect on the environment and a reduction in running costs.