Model adaptive driver assistance system to increase fuel savings

With increased awareness of environmental protection, volatile resource prizes and rising world trade, energy efficiency has become a focal point in international research. While new vehicle propulsion systems, e.g. battery or fuel cell systems, are still in their early stages, it is already possible to increase fuel saving and reduce costs by applying a fuel efficient driving behaviour. In this paper, a fuel efficiency driver assistance system concept is presented that generates optimal fuel efficient driving guidelines for the driver, who retains full control of the vehicle during the entire process. The optimization is based on an adaptive partial power train model and current measurements available on the CAN-Bus. System identification methods, solely using CAN-Bus data, are proposed to estimate the unknown power train parameters that will enable the model to adapt to a wide range of different vehicles. Based on the adapted model, an optimization routine generates fuel efficient driving guidelines. Aided by the fuel efficient guidelines, the driver is able to adopt a more fuel efficient driving behaviour.