GNSS-Based Driver Assistance for Charging Electric City Buses: Implementation and Lessons Learned from Field Testing

Modern public transportation in urban areas increasingly relies on high-capacity buses. At the same time, the share of electric vehicles is increasing to meet environmental standards. This introduces problems when charging these vehicles from chargers at bus stops, as untrained drivers often find it...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Iman Esfandiyar, Krzysztof Ćwian, Michał R. Nowicki, Piotr Skrzypczyński
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-06-01
Series:Remote Sensing
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/15/11/2938
Description
Summary:Modern public transportation in urban areas increasingly relies on high-capacity buses. At the same time, the share of electric vehicles is increasing to meet environmental standards. This introduces problems when charging these vehicles from chargers at bus stops, as untrained drivers often find it difficult to execute docking manoeuvres on the charger. A practical solution to this problem requires a suitable advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS), which is a system used to automatise and make safer some of the tasks involved in driving a vehicle. In the considered case, ADAS supports docking to the electric charging station, and thus, it must solve two issues: precise positioning of the bus relative to the charger and motion planning in a constrained space. This paper addresses these issues by employing GNSS-based positioning and optimisation-based planning, resulting in an affordable solution to the ADAS for the docking of electric buses while recharging. We focus on the practical side of the system, showing how the necessary features were attained at a limited hardware and installation cost, also demonstrating an extensive evaluation of the fielded ADAS for an operator of public transportation in the city of Poznań in Poland.
ISSN:2072-4292