A control theoretic formulation of green driving strategies based on inter-vehicle communications

Various green driving strategies have been proposed to smooth traffic flow and lower pollutant emissions and fuel consumption in stop-and-go traffic. In this paper, we present a control theoretic formulation of distributed, cooperative green driving strategies based on inter-vehicle communications (IVCs). The control variable is the advisory speed limit, which is designed to smooth a following vehicle’s speed profile without changing its average speed. We theoretically analyze the performance of a constant independent and three simple cooperative green driving strategies and present three rules for effective and robust strategies. We then develop a distributed cooperative green driving strategy, in which the advisory speed limit is first independently calculated by each individual vehicle and then averaged among green driving vehicles through IVC. By simulations with Newell’s car-following model and the Comprehensive Modal Emissions Model (CMEM), we demonstrate that such a strategy is effective and robust independently as well as cooperatively for different market penetration rates of IVC-equipped vehicles and communication delays. In particular, even when 5% of the vehicles implement the green driving strategy and the IVC communication delay is 60 s, the fuel consumption can be reduced by up to 15%. Finally we discuss some future extensions.