The Urban Drive-Cycle Benefits of Advisory Speed Signs 852210

In a research project conducted by CSIRO to establish the possible fuel savings from a system in which advice is given to a vehicle driver on the speed to travel through a signalized network, a supplementary experimental data base of driving patterns has been created. This paper seeks to compare, in a common format, a number of drive-cycles for Melbourne peak driving, Melbourne and Sydney arterial roads, and the Australian fuel consumption test standard (AS2077) with the driving conditions encountered during the CSIRO experiments. Significant differences in the cruise, acceleration and high speed modes of the conventional drive cycles are found compared to the test drive cycle under advisory speed advice. Compliance with advisory speed information modifies driving patterns to achieve some 15% lower fuel consumption. If the proposed benefits lead to widespread adoption of this traffic management system the style of urban driving could change markedly. Should vehicle manufacturers wish to modify vehicle performance to match these urban requirements the data presented here could form the basis of a desirable urban vehicle performance specification.