Energy Consumption Testing of Connected and Automated Vehicle Technologies

Abstract

This dissertation focuses on the development and implementation of methodologies and test systems to enable energy consumption testing of Connected and Automated Vehicle (CAV) technologies. The research in this work was conducted in environments spanning simulation, dynamometers, and test tracks using new methodologies capable of accommodating both production Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) and prototype CAV features in a common test framework. We initially developed and piloted this test framework to conduct energy consumption performance of a variety of prototype vehicles with CAV features designed by university teams in EcoCAR Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions (AVTCs). AVTCs have a 35-year history of providing future automotive engineers with hands-on experience developing advanced vehicle technology in direct collaboration with industry, government, and academia [1]. The two latest competition iterations, the EcoCAR Mobility Challenge and EV Challenge, include the design, deployment, and testing of CAV hardware and software systems from the ground up. These competitions tasked university teams with designing and implementing sensor systems, fusion algorithms, Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) connectivity, and automated controls on a production vehicle platform throughout the course of each multi-year competition. Our research team, with collaborators across the University of Washington (UW), Argonne National Laboratory, HORIBA Automotive, General Motors (GM), and other competition partners, designed and implemented this series of novel CAV energy testing methods and supporting hardware systems. While the motivation for this work was in support of AVTCs, the methods were also designed to enable flexible testing pathways capable of evaluating a wide variety of vehicles on common test scenarios and drive cycles. Methods demonstrated in this work fill a gap in current research activities by enabling tests that directly compare energy used by modern production ADAS-equipped vehicles with experimental connectivity and automation control features. This dissertation details these new CAV test methodologies, the development of test systems, and the implementation of pilot studies we deployed during university competitions to enable controlled, repeatable, and directly comparable energy testing of production ADAS and experimental CAV features. Both track testing and dynamometer energy results are presented based on testing we conducted at various industry test track facilities and Argonne’s Advanced Mobility Technology Laboratory. Finally, we present our design for a novel flexible connected corridor test system that will be capable of representing a variety of real-world connected corridors and traffic scenarios in more controlled and repeatable test track settings.