A rolling horizon algorithm for auto-carrier transportation

This paper introduces a rolling horizon algorithm to plan the delivery of vehicles to automotive dealers by a heterogeneous fleet of auto-carriers. The problem consists in scheduling the deliveries over a multiple-day planning horizon during which requests for transportation arrive dynamically. In addition, the routing of the auto-carriers must take into account constraints related to the loading of the vehicles on the carriers. The objective is to minimize the sum of traveled distances, fixed costs for auto-carrier operation, service costs, and penalties for late deliveries. The problem is solved by a heuristic that first selects the vehicles to be delivered in the next few days and then optimizes the deliveries by an iterated local search procedure. A branch-and-bound search is used to check the feasibility of the loading. To handle the dynamic nature of the problem, the complete algorithm is applied repeatedly in a rolling horizon framework. Computational results on data from a major European logistics service provider show that the heuristic is fast and yields significant improvements compared to the sequential solution of independent daily problems.     

Vehicle kilometers traveled reduction impacts of Transit-Oriented Development: Evidence from Shanghai City

The role of residential self-selection has become a major subject in the debate over the relationships between the built environment and travel behavior. Numerous previous empirical studies on this subject have provided valuable insights into the associations between the built environment and travel behavior. However, the vast majority of the studies were conducted in North American and European cities; yet this research is still in its infancy in most developing countries, including China, where residential and transport choices are likely to be more constrained and travel-related attitudes quite different from those in the developed world. Using the data collected from 2038 residents currently living in TOD neighborhoods and non-TOD neighborhoods in Shanghai City, this paper aims to partly fill the gaps by investigating the causal relationship between the built environment and travel behavior in the Chinese context. More specifically, this paper employs Heckman’s sample selection model to examine the reduction impacts of TOD on personal vehicle kilometers traveled (VKT), controlling for self-selection. The results show that whilst the effects of residential self-selection are apparent; the built environment exhibits the most significant impacts on travel behavior, playing the dominant role. These findings produce a sound basis for local policymakers to better understand the nature and magnitude toward the impacts of the built environment on travel behavior. Providing the government department with reassurance that effective interventions and policies on land use aimed toward altering the built environment would actually lead to meaningful changes in travel behavior.     

Locating emergency vehicles with an approximate queuing model and a meta-heuristic solution approach

In this paper, the location of emergency service (ES) vehicles is studied on fully connected networks. Queuing theory is utilized to obtain the performance metrics of the system. An approximate queuing model the (AQM) is proposed. For the AQM, different service rate formulations are constructed. These formulations are tested with a simulation study for different approximation levels. A mathematical model is proposed to minimize the mean response time of ES systems based on AQM. In the model, multiple vehicles are allowed at a single location. The objective function of the model has no closed form expression. A genetic algorithm is constructed to solve the model. With the help of the genetic algorithm, the effect of assigning multiple vehicles on the mean response time is reported.     

A generic data assimilation framework for vehicle trajectory reconstruction on signalized urban arterials using particle filters

With trajectory data, a complete microscopic and macroscopic picture of traffic flow operations can be obtained. However, trajectory data are difficult to observe over large spatiotemporal regions—particularly in urban contexts—due to practical, technical and financial constraints. The next best thing is to estimate plausible trajectories from whatever data are available. This paper presents a generic data assimilation framework to reconstruct such plausible trajectories on signalized urban arterials using microscopic traffic flow models and data from loops (individual vehicle passages and thus vehicle counts); traffic control data; and (sparse) travel time measurements from whatever source available. The key problem we address is that loops suffer from miss- and over-counts, which result in unbounded errors in vehicle accumulations, rendering trajectory reconstruction highly problematic. Our framework solves this problem in two ways. First, we correct the systematic error in vehicle accumulation by fusing the counts with sparsely available travel times. Second, the proposed framework uses particle filtering and an innovative hierarchical resampling scheme, which effectively integrates over the remaining error distribution, resulting in plausible trajectories. The proposed data assimilation framework is tested and validated using simulated data. Experiments and an extensive sensitivity analysis show that the proposed method is robust to errors both in the model and in the measurements, and provides good estimations for vehicle accumulation and vehicle trajectories with moderate sensor quality. The framework does not impose restrictions on the type of microscopic models used and can be naturally extended to include and estimate additional trajectory attributes such as destination and path, given data are available for assimilation.     

Life cycle emissions and cost model for urban light duty vehicles

The growth of vehicle sales and use internationally requires the consumption of significant quantities of energy and materials, and contributes to the deterioration of air-quality and climate conditions. Advanced propulsion systems and electric drive vehicles have substantially different characteristics and impacts. They require life cycle assessments and detailed comparisons with gasoline powered vehicles which, in turn, should lead to critical updates of traditional models and assumptions. For a comprehensive comparison of advanced and traditional light duty vehicles, a model is developed that integrates external costs, including emissions and time losses, with societal and consumer life cycle costs. Life cycle emissions and time losses are converted into costs for seven urban light duty vehicles. The results, which are based on vehicle technology characteristics and transportation impacts on environment, facilitate vehicle comparisons and support policy making in transportation. Substantially, more sustainable urban transportation can be achieved in the short-term by promoting policies that increase vehicle occupancy; in the intermediate-term by increasing the share of hybrid vehicles in the car market and in the long-term by the widespread use of electric vehicles. A sensitivity-analysis of life cost results revealed that vehicle costs change significantly for different geographical areas depending on vehicle taxation, pricing of gasoline, electric power and pollution. Current practices in carbon and air quality pricing favor oil and coal based technologies. However, increasing the cost of electricity from coal and other fossil fuels would increase the variable cost for electric vehicles, and tend to favor the variable cost of hybrid vehicles.     

The impact of private autonomous vehicles on vehicle ownership and unoccupied VMT generation

With 36 ventures testing autonomous vehicles (AVs) in the State of California, commercial deployment of this disruptive technology is almost around the corner (California Department of Transportation, 2016). Different business models of AVs, including Shared AVs (SAVs) and Private AVs (PAVs), will lead to significantly different changes in regional vehicle inventory and Vehicle Miles Travelled (VMT). Most prior studies have already explored the impact of SAVs on vehicle ownership and VMT generation. Limited understanding has been gained regarding vehicle ownership reduction and unoccupied VMT generation potentials in the era of PAVs. Motivated by such research gap, this study develops models to examine how much vehicle ownership reduction can be achieved once private conventional vehicles are replaced by AVs and the spatial distribution of unoccupied VMT accompanied with the vehicle reduction. The models are implemented using travel survey and synthesized trip profile from Atlanta Metropolitan Area. The results show that more than 18% of the households can reduce vehicles, while maintaining the current travel patterns. This can be translated into a 9.5% reduction in private vehicles in the study region. Meanwhile, 29.8 unoccupied VMT will be induced per day per reduced vehicles. A majority of the unoccupied VMT will be loaded on interstate highways and expressways and the largest percentage inflation in VMT will occur on minor local roads. The results can provide implications for evolving trends in household vehicles uses and the location of dedicated AV lanes in the PAV dominated future.     

Optimal bus fleet management strategy for emissions reduction

Transportation is a major cause for environmental degradation via exhaust emissions. For many transit-oriented metropolitan areas, bus trips often constitute a sizeable mode share. Managing the bus fleet, in particular updating buses to comply with the newer emissions standards, therefore, can have a substantial impact on transportation-induced air quality. This paper presents the approach of remaining life additional benefit–cost (RLABC) analysis for maximising the total net benefit by either early-retiring or retrofitting the current bus fleet within their lifespans. By referring to the net benefits for different bus types estimated by RLABC analysis, the most beneficial management scheme for the current bus fleet can be identified. Optimal bus fleet management (BFM) models based on the RLABC analysis for the operator and the government are developed. Then a government subsidy plan is produced to achieve win–win solutions, which will offer efficient and flexible management schemes. To illustrate the approach, the largest bus company in Hong Kong, which carries more than 23% of the total trips in Hong Kong, is taken as a case study example. Instead of adopting a fixed retirement plan, such as replacing buses at the age of 17 as is currently practised, the proposed method develops an optimal BFM scheme that progressively phases out buses or retrofits them. This study produces promising results to demonstrate the large benefit of this approach for optimal bus fleet management.     

基于剩余充电电量的锂离子电池组容量快速估计方法

针对传统锂离子电池组容量确定方法存在的效率低、能耗高且只能离线应用等问题,提出一种基于电池剩余充电电量的锂离子电池组容量快速估计方法。首先,基于充电电压曲线一致性原理,以电池组内率先充电至充电截止电压的电池单体电压曲线为基准,通过电压曲线的平移缩放与线性插值计算出各单体电池的剩余充电电量与剩余充电时间,从而实现各单体电池的荷电状态(State of Charge, SOC)在线估计,在此基础上实现电池组容量的快速估计。其次,在电池单体模型的基础上建立电池组的仿真模型,并在全SOC区域上对模型参数进行分段辨识。通过所建立的仿真模型得到电池组的充放电曲线,并对电池组容量进行估计。最后,对4个单体串联而成的电池组进行充电试验。研究结果表明:仿真容量与估计容量误差为1.2%以内,验证了所提出的容量快速估计算法的有效性;利用所提方法估计出电池组容量与试验得到的电池组容量的误差为2.61%;该方法根据电池充电曲线的平移与缩放即可在线估计出电池组容量,可应用于新电池组容量的在线快速估计,能在保证3%估计误差的基础上将检测效率提高到传统方法的2倍以上。     

信号交叉口行人二次过街下右转车通行能力与延误估计模型

在充分分析典型四相位交叉口行人二次过街设置前、后的行人流与右转车流冲突的前提下，以行人过街时间占有率和行人群到达分布作为分析指标，利用可插车间隙理论得出行人单向通行和双向通行条件下的右转车通行能力计算公式；根据行人流随机消散和集中消散的不同特征，应用随机分布理论推导出右转车穿越行人流的延误模型；并通过算例对比分析行人二次过街设置前、后右转车通行能力和延误的变化值。结果表明，除了在少数行人流量比较大的情况下， 行人二次过街的设置会小幅度减少右转车的延误；在其他大多数情况下，行人二次过街设置后， 右转车的通行能力将受到限制，延误增大，其中，平均通行能力降低了16.68%，平均延误时间增大 了21%，所以，当右转车交通需求较大时，需同时考虑行人和右转车的交通运行状态，优化设计是否采用行人二次过街，避免右转车超出极限忍耐时间而增大与行人冲突的概率。     

移动闭塞系统区间通过能力分析及参数计算

移动闭塞条件下“闭塞分区”呈现出“移动”和“长度变化”的特征,其区间通过能力的计算较固定闭塞系统更加复杂。本文建立了移动闭塞系统区间通过能力的数学模型,对区间通过能力与列车追踪运行速度、跟驰车距和列车性能等参数之间的相互关系进行了定性、定量分析,并就关鍵参数的计算方法进行了深入的讨论,对移动闭塞条件下的列车运行控制与行车组织有一定的参考价值。