Fuel economy assessment of semi-autonomous vehicles using measured data

Autonomous vehicles are expected to increase drivers' freedom and improve traffic safety, congestion and potentially energy consumption. Volvo Car Group has planned to start the world's first large-scale test of autonomous vehicles in a project called Drive Me, in which customers use autonomous vehicles on the streets around Gothenburg in 2017. In this paper, measured data from semi-autonomous vehicles equipped with adaptive cruise control (ACC) on the Drive Me route are used to analyze the vehicle's driving behavior. The data, including signals from vehicles' on-board diagnostics and GPS locations, are analyzed to estimate the effect of ACC on the fuel consumption of vehicles. The results show that semi-autonomous vehicles can reduce the mean fuel consumption up to 5.3% depending on driving situation and speed. Comparing acceleration profiles of human drivers with the ones from the ACC function it can be observed that the ACC function accelerates milder and less often. The results show that vehicles can improve fuel consumption even with a low level of automation.