Driver's little helper: BMW’s semi-autonomous test vehicle, shown here, can automatically brake, accelerate, and pass slower vehicles.
Credit: BMW
Multimedia
Energy
How Vehicle Automation Will Cut Fuel Consumption
Cars that park themselves and automatically convoy with other cars could reduce congestion and emissions.
- Monday, October 24, 2011
- By Kevin Bullis
Several automakers are developing technology to let cars drive themselves, mainly as a way to make driving more convenient and improve safety. But it could also significantly reduce gasoline consumption, says Nady Boules, the director of GM's Electrical and Controls Integration Lab.
Increased automation could reduce congestion, but also allow for radical redesigns of automobiles to make them lighter and more fuel-efficient. Boules says partially automated vehicles that let drivers take their hands off the steering wheel and the accelerator, but still require them to pay attention, could be sold by the end of the decade.
Some cars already have a system that prompts drivers to change the way they accelerate to drive more efficiently. Allowing the car to control acceleration automatically could also save fuel.
But the biggest effects could come with full automation. Cars that park themselves—a trick GM has demonstrated with its EN-V concept vehicle—could save fuel by eliminating the need for drivers to circle the block waiting for a parking space to open up. The ambition is for a car to drop its owner off and go directly to the nearest available parking spot—even if that spot happens to be miles away, too far for the owner to walk. When it's time to leave, the owner notifies the car with a smart phone, and it picks him or her up.
Vehicle-to-vehicle communication, which allows vehicles to travel on highways very close together at consistent speeds, could also reduce fuel consumption. If a truck in a convoy brakes, it sends a signal slowing down the following trucks instantaneously. A spacing of four meters reduces wind resistance for the following trucks, and could reduce fuel consumption by 10 to 15 percent, Boules says. Vehicle-to-vehicle communication could also reduce congestion by cutting accidents, coordinating traffic intelligently, and "getting rid of those drivers who accelerate through red lights." The U.S. Department of Transportation is sponsoring work to enable this last goal using sensors in stop lights that can communicate with smart vehicles.
In the more distant future, if automated cars prove as safe as Boules thinks they can be, it could allow engineers to completely redesign cars. "You could remove the weight dedicated to crash protection, using very light materials for the skin instead of metals," Boules says.
Boules believes fully automated cars could be built by the next decade, but admits that new regulations will be needed before they can be sold.
Automakers have been working on vehicle automation for decades, but the work recently got a boost from a DARPA-sponsored contest to develop vehicles that can navigate a simulated urban environment on their own. A team that included GM and Carnegie Mellon University won that contest. Google is also pushing vehicle automation, and has tested autonomous vehicles for over a hundred thousand miles; the company is also reportedly sponsoring a bill that clears the way for automated vehicles to drive on public roads in Nevada.
Related Articles
Car-to-Car Communication System to Get a Massive Road Test
A trial involving thousands of cars could pave the way for technology aimed at cutting accidents and traffic jams.
Prelude to a Robot Race
On Saturday, 11 autonomous vehicles designed by the best roboticists in the world will compete for a $2 million prize in the Urban Challenge.
The Great (Driverless) Car Race
For a mere $1 million, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency hopes to score an autonomous vehicle capable of sustaining high speeds over long distances and tough terrain. How? By challenging geeks to an unusual race.
Mr. Mark
29 Comments
R Sweeney
72 Comments
- 575 Days Ago
- 10/24/2011
So when the car runs over a woman in the street, GM, the camera vendor, the radar vendor, and the cellular carrier get sued.
Right.
Tort reform you say?
Not going to happen with the majority of congressmen being lawyers.
srydstedt
1 Comment
- 573 Days Ago
- 10/26/2011
I'm certain that old-time cops who directed traffic at intersections said the same sort of thing: " The first time that signal shows green in both directions, and there's a massive traffic pileup, boy, the lawsuits...."
See any of the =millions= of traffic lights turning green for both directions of intersecting traffic?? Any???
These comments about unmanned cars hitting pedestrians or "running amok" are all from people who have no idea...zero idea...on how to write a program for a complex system. They have no idea.
Listen, Sweeney: the object of driving from A to B, for humans, is to get there, and get there fast, with the least interruption. The object of a driverless vehicle is to NOT HIT ANYTHING. Getting there is secondary. The processing priorities are all different for non-human systems, and you'll have about as many accidents when driverless cars are commonplace, as two simultaneous green lights at an intersection. Not....going....to...happen.
Mapou
357 Comments
- 575 Days Ago
- 10/24/2011
Eliminate 2/3 of Vehicles on City Streets
Self-driving vehicles make it possible to eliminate more than 2/3 of the vehicles on city streets. This is based on the observation that most cars are not being used most of the time. City government can acquire a small fleet of self-driving electric vehicles for public use and enact laws to ban private vehicles within city limits.
If someone needs transportation, he/she can just use a smartphone app or a special beeper to summon the nearest parked vehicle. This will do wonders for energy efficiency and clean the air.
Of course, automation will put millions of people out of work but that's a different issue.
bkf11
10 Comments
- 575 Days Ago
- 10/24/2011
Re: Eliminate 2/3 of Vehicles on City Streets
Yeah, I think that the implications will not be straightforward to predict. For example, if I had a fully automated vehicle it would probably have a higher mileage as it drops me off at work some days and then drives back home for my wife to use (we only have one car, I currently bike). This increased mileage makes it more likely that we'd get a more efficient vehicle like an EV so ironically we could have increased mileage but decreased costs and emissions (New Zealand electricity is about 70% renewable).
Car sharing schemes could become much more popular since the car can then transport you like a taxi. Taxi drivers would face the same fate as payphones and music stores - obsolescence.
jjaenisch
10 Comments
- 571 Days Ago
- 10/28/2011
Re: Eliminate 2/3 of Vehicles on City Streets
I think you are too optimistic that autonomous vehicles would truly reduce total vehicle numbers. It would work only for those people not employed in the 9-to-5 schedule - all others will still have peak demand right before school starts (to drop off children) until about 10 am, and then again starting around 3pm (when school is out) until office closing times, after 6 pm. The number of people that will require cars will be the same, whether or not the vehicles are smart!
If we can understand that the demand for transport is not going to change, whether or not the mode of transportation is smart, why can't we just drop this silliness of autonomous urban navigation, and work on making efficient public transport. Bus and rail networks that see the same investment in their development as these technologies are going to be able to handle peak AND off-peak demand.
I only see a point in having self-driving transport useful in long-distance situations, where (a) you have less complicated routes with topologies that are easier for computers to understand and (b) the operator is required only for minimal inputs over the entire trip. Urban trips are far more complicated, have higher inconsistencies in route planning (street closures are far more common due to construction/major events in cities than on the highway) that occur with little time to update map information, and can be solved with better public transport.
awiegand
1 Comment
- 575 Days Ago
- 10/24/2011
I absolutely think this a great idea but think this would take a very long time to process and spark humans to buying this future miracle...
joelsapp
21 Comments
- 571 Days Ago
- 10/28/2011
How Vehicle Automation Will Cut Fuel Consumption
Vehicle automation will march on because it will slowly eliminate the chief component most responsible for the majority of accidents.
Tort reform will not be needed as the DOT and other like agencies around the world are starting to sponsor research and mandate these types of systems in cars.
Dex76
5 Comments
- 566 Days Ago
- 11/02/2011
It's time to get really serious with this technology. With the computers available today, there's no reason why this couldn't be achieved safely and efficiently. Hopefully this will eventually get rid of traffic cops and insurance companies.
vmyev
4 Comments
- 563 Days Ago
- 11/05/2011
Don't know about self-parking, but even common, currently available technology can help. For instance, I rarely go anywhere without turning my GPS on, even when I know the area. Several times it has saved me from being in the wrong lane on a freeway and missing my exit when I got distracted. As for other ways to save fuel, our high gas prices are the result of the fact that to take my 165 pound body to the grocery store, I have to drag 1 1/2 tons of steel, plastic and rubber with me! We have the technology to make vehicles lighter ... if only we had the political will!
On Twitter
Become a Fan on Facebook
Subscribe to the Feed
mahonj
46 Comments
Steady now
It is a long way to a car which can parallel park itself to a car which can drop you at the door and go and park itself at the nearest (or cheapest) space.
This requires full unmanned automatic driving which is quite a call.
All it really requires is a "find me a space near X" function on a GPS + parking status system, which I am sure we have (or could have) today.
Platooning could definitely safe fuel, but will take years to get enough cars on the road to allow it to happen - does anyone know the "take off point" for platooning - when you have enough cars on the road that you can fine someone following the same route at the same time ?
5% ? 10% ? 20%?
You would have to install the platooning systems for free in cars for years until it was able to take off. It will require a network effect to work.
Fully automatic driving is a long way off - in my opinion, you will have semi automatic driving first -
a: where the "driver" is able to drive but would rather work / sleep / watch TV, but could take over in a fix.
b: When the person in the car is not able to drive (too old / young / whatever) but the car can be remotely driven via a camera and comms link. You would need this for tricky traffic situations, until software was written to deal with them. (The AAA could provide this function).
It would be fantastic for motorhomes - the driver could make a cup of tea while driving on a motorway.
Also, military resupply.
I think it WILL happen, but possibly not first in the USA as it is too litigious - the big car companies are such a juicy target.
South Korea or Japan would be a more likely place - both nations love technology, have good s/w skills and ageing populations.
Reply