Faculty of Aerospace Engineering

Autonomous driving strategy utilizing the battery capacity to the full extent For a fleet of autonomous vehicle operating in urban environment (e.g. taxis) the amount of time each vehicle can operate before it needs a battery re-chargeis very significant. In order to maximize the operation time many factors can be taken into account when designing driving policy and control algorithms:

• Designing optimal profiles for braking and accelerating, while implementing the safety requirements (maintaining the safety distance, practicing defensive driving, performing evasive maneuvers)
• Designing optimal velocity profiles in urban scenarios, taking into account the traffic situation and static constraints (e.g. traffic lights) along the desired route
• Designing an optimal driving policy: considering lane changing, overtaking, and other maneuvers in terms of saving the battery power
• Designing an optimal control strategy in traffic jams
• Computing the expected (most probable) battery usage for driving from start to final destination along different routes, given the current traffic situation
• Investigating the trade-off between control loops accuracy (e.g. when tracking a desired velocity profile) and battery usage

The resulting driving strategy can be tested in simulation, which can include a model of dynamics of electric vehicle, and its operating environment: a city segment with different traffic scenarios. There is an option to test the developed driving strategy in one the autonomous vehicles currently operating in Mobileye Vision Technologies, Jerusalem.