Abstract
Ecological driving aims in reducing burden on the environment by minimizing fuel consumption per travelling distance. This paper presents enhancement of ecological vehicle control system using information of both road slopes and surrounding vehicles. The control input is generated using model predictive control with a suitable objective function relating to fuel consumption, safe range clearance, and constraints. Continuation and generalized minimum residual method is used to optimize the sequence of inputs required in the prediction horizon for the best economy driving. Performance of the proposed system is evaluated by simulations on a typical road with up-down slopes. The ecological vehicle control behaviour with fuel saving aspects is graphically illustrated and analyzed. The proposed system can be realized utilizing GPS based digital road terrain map to assist a driver that would obviously be very conducive for the ecology of the earth.
Keywords: Ecological driving, model predictive control, road slope.