Make public transportation more attractive and less polluting - Veolia ...

“
Make public transportation
more attractive and less polluting
”
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8 %
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years of research patents filed fuel savings
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parameters
analyzed

NEW TECHNOLOGY
no. 12
SEE THIS
SUCCESS STORY
ON DVD
[ CHALLENGE ]
[ RESULT
]
[ INNOVATION ]
Operational contact: Laurent Briant
lbriant@cityway.fr
Eco-driving Assistant
A simple, effective system
Optimize the way in which vehicles operated by Veolia
Transdev are driven, to enhance passenger comfort
and cut fuel consumption and carbon emissions.
A driver assistance system: a display that lets drivers
know in real time whether or not they are driving
appropriately.
An onboard smart device with sensors,
computer and interface using colored lights.
A bus driver brakes 700 times, spends over an hour and a
half braking, starts up more than 200 times and makes as
many as 1,000 turns of the wheel in just one day of driving a
city route! It is easy to imagine how these repeated actions
impact passenger comfort, fuel consumption and vehicle maintenance,
especially when seen in the context of the more than
30,000 coaches and buses operated worldwide by Veolia Transdev.
Thanks to the Eco-driving Assistant developed by Veolia, it is now
possible to optimize coach and bus driving in a simple, intuitive
and non-stressful way for drivers. By analyzing a set of data, the
Eco-driving Assistant provides drivers with real-time information
to improve their driving profile. Hop on board and find out more
about this multi-application system, introduced in the Côtesd'Armor
region in north-western France.
>
Eco-driving Assistant
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[ PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION OF TOMORROW]
◊Heading toward sustainable transportation
Smoother driving
for more pleasant
public transit
V
Eco-driving Assistant
eolia has always sought to
minimize its environmental impact, a
concern that has prompted the use of
exclusive assessment tools such as
the Eco-Efficient Travel Indicator*. It
has also yielded tangible, quantifiable
results, such as 3,5 million avoided
tons of carbon equivalent in 2010.
What more can be done?
Researchers have found fuel consumption
variations of nearly 35 %
between two radically different
driving styles — very environmentally
friendly versus very sporty — not to
mention the impact on passenger
comfort and ve-hicle maintenance…
This clear-cut opportunity for
improvement gave rise to the idea of
creating an operational driving assistance
device. The system had to meet
two requirements: be easy to use,
*This indicator measures public transportation performance per passenger compared with private cars, looking at carbon emissions avoided,
congestion reduction, liters of fuel saved, etc.

so that drivers would be happy to use
it, and be affordable to ensure that
operators and municipalities would
adopt it.
Innovation-bound
driving support
To get the show on the road,researchers
designed the Eco-driving assistance
system around four components:
• a panel of sensors throughout the
vehicle;
• a standard Bus-FMS (Fleet Management
System) interface for all vehicle
types that transmits information
from the sensors;
• an onboard computer;
• a "Man-Machine Interface" with
indicator lights developed especially
for the system.
Using prerecorded algorithms, the
Eco-driving Assistant can process a
range of data simultaneously, including
[
ECO-DRIVING ASSISTANT:
]
USER GUIDELINES
RPM
A DRIVING ASSISTANCE
SYSTEM EMPLOYING:
• Real-time analysis of driving parameters
• Calculation of driving quality
• Information transmitted to the driver
ONBOARD COMPUTER
INTERFACE
GEAR SELECTION
engine speed (rpm), gear selection,
fuel consumption, speed and acceleration.
This enables it to model buses’
optimal performance in real time
and define reference thresholds
based on the speed limits in force.
The man-machine interface can then
send a simple, intuitive signal to the
driver using a system of colored
lights. When they are green, it means
the driver is controlling his speed and
acceleration appropriately.
If he is traveling too fast or braking
too hard, the green lights disappear
and red ones come on and may flash.
This interface was developed in conjunction
with ergonomists, trainers
and drivers.
All components were tested on a
simulator before being tried out on a
vehicle.
VEHICLE TYPE
Comfortable
Smooth driving
5 types of driving
Fuel savings of up to 8%
Field observations combined with
simulations suggest the assistant
will be a success. The Côtes-d'Armor
(CAT22) interurban system in Saint-
Brieuc has already reported savings
of 4 to 5 %, just by having the display
on board! The result is more economical,
comfortable driving and less
stress on the vehicle, significantly
improving the appeal of city and
regional public transit.
Looking at the numerical data, simulations
suggest fuel savings of 8 % for
the Eco-driving Assistant if supplemented
by optimized training for
drivers.
For Veolia Transdev, with a fleet of
more than 30,000 coaches and buses
around the world, it is a promising innovation.
In 2011, the Eco-driving
Assistant will be trialed in European
and US cities including Argenteuil
and Saint-Étienne in France, Haaglanden
Jerky driving
Sporty driving
Uncomfortable
VISUAL
DISPLAY UNIT
1 type
of excessive speed
>
Eco-driving Assistant
17

[ ]
THE ANGO PROJECT:
AN ADVANCED DRIVING
ASSISTANCE SYSTEM
The ANGO research project aims
to go even farther in modeling
optimal driving.
Unlike the Eco-driving Assistant,
which characterizes driving style,
the ANGO project aims to further
optimize driving by integrating
vehicle operating parameters
such as route topography, theoretical
timetables and more…
It applies solely to bus-lane public
transit, that is systems that use a
reserved lane or space such as
bus rapid transit (BRT).
It is currently being tested in
Rouen, France.
Eco-driving Assistant
in the Netherlands, Pforzheim in Germany
and New Orleans in the United
States.
In France, the cities of Beauvais, Le
Mans, Nice, St Brieuc, Toulouse and
Tours already use this device for their
interurban transit systems.
This innovative device is manufactured
and marketed by Cityway, a
Veolia Transdev subsidiary specializing
in products and services designed
to facilitate mobility.
Another reason operators are so
interested in the Eco-driving Assistant
is that it is a valuable tracking
tool, both for quantifying each vehicle’s
exhaust emissions and monitoring
the driving statistics of drivers.

[
“THE MOST USER-FRIENDLY SOLUTIONS ]
ARE OFTEN THE HARDEST TO DEVISE.”
How much time did it take
to develop this innovation?
How did you get financing for
the innovation?
The Eco-driving Assistant project
was developed using Veolia
Transdev own equity. Moreover,
a project dubbed ANGO, involving
a consortium of five partners
(Veolia Transdev, Irisbus,
Siemens TS, INRETS and
LCPC/LIVIC) and led by Veolia
Environnement’s R&I, aims to
develop an advanced driving
assistance solution for bus rapid
transit systems.
◊3 questions for Emmanuel de Verdalle,
head of the Eco-driving Assistant Project
The ground transportation
research & innovation program
PREDIT (Programme de recherche,
d’expérimentation et d’innovation
dans les transports terrestres) is
providing 30 % of the financing
for the ANGO project.
It was instigated and implemented
in collab-oration with
the French research, transportation,
environment and industry
ministries and other institutional
stakeholders*. PREDIT aims to
promote the emergence of more
cost-effective, accessible, safer
and more energy-efficient transportation
systems. It particularly
focuses on reducing greenhouse
gas emissions.
How do you see the Eco-driving
Assistant’s future?
Transit authorities and operators
want simple, ready-to-go
transportation innovations. Yet
the most user-friendly solutions
are often the hardest to devise.
But we delivered. The Eco-driving
Assistant is very affordable
and offers an array of driving
improvements: lower fuel consumption
and emissions, of
course, but also tracking
for oper-ators and benefits for
drivers and passengers.
Now we are going to test it on a
wider variety of routes and
applications — highways, school
buses, coaches, etc. — to better
assess what it has to offer
in each context. It is entirely
conceivable that the Eco-driving
Assistant will eventually be
deployed on all vehicle types.
*France’s environment and energy management agency (ADEME), OSEO, a public organization to support innovation and growth,
and the French National Research Agency (ANR).
Eco-driving Assistant
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