We can consider that the most recent developments of the vehicles are:
• the massive deployment of sensors, actuators and computers allowing to develop a kind of “vehicle and transport system intelligence”;
• their ability to communicate among themselves or with the infrastructure through the concept of cooperative systems;
• the introduction of electric motor combined or not with thermal motor: hybrid vehicles or full electric vehicles.
All these changes are beneficial for both the car manufacturers, cycling manufacturers, road networks operators and transport users (drivers or simple users).
This report attempts to describe the key issues and the latest advances around these important developments.
After an introduction to the main issues, the report is organized into three parts:
• Topic 1:
Newest evolutions and innovative services based on cooperative systems: in this section is described system architecture and the main technical principles in relation to the most recent standards. New services provided by these systems are also briefly described.
• Topic 2:
Emergence of electric vehicles: in this chapter we describe the main technologies (vehicle architecture, batteries) and their limitation. The question of smart grid as the required road equipment to fulfil the user recharging demand in urban are also addressed. Finally, we attempt to provide some answer to question on link between road safety and electric vehicles. This section also briefly discusses the emergence and electric bicycles and the potential benefits
to the transport system.
• Topic 3:
Network monitoring based on cooperative system: the floating car data concept: in this section we introduce the concept of probe vehicle and we describe its main contribution to road network operation. Innovative application already deployed or that could be deployed in a near future are also proposed in this chapter.Finally, this report concludes with a summary of best practices and recommendations.
Para más información, acceda a: http://www.transport-research.info/sites/default/files/project/documents/Cooperative-vehicles-highways-systems.pdf