ecoDriver Project

Established in 2011 with a budget of €15.5m (including a European Union contribution of €10.7m), the four year ecoDriver Project targets a 20% reduction of CO2 emissions and fuel consumption in European road transport by encouraging the adoption of green driving behaviour.

“Roughly 20% of all green house gas emissions come from the road transport sector, so transport is a big contributor to pollution levels in Europe,” explains Oliver Carsten, ecoDriver Project leader.

“The transport industry has a goal to reduce the CO2 levels that were present in the 1990s by 60% by 2050, but the European Environment Agency has found that the numbers have been going the wrong way. The levels are currently 20% above the levels of the 1990s, which is very concerning.”

Professor Carsten argues that while vehicle manufacturers are working hard to make new cars less polluting, the high proportion of older vehicles on the road means that there will likely be a 13‐14 year gap before vehicles with reduced emissions are commonplace on the road.

“We renew something like one twelfth of the vehicle fleet a year, so existing vehicles are going to be a big part of the problem and we need to do something about that.

Supporting drivers in the cars they drive now will be imperative to reducing emission levels,” he says.

Project partners

The ecoDriver Project combines the work of 12 diverse partner organisations, representing R&D institutions, environmental experts and vehicle manufacturers drawn from across Europe. A key project goal is to deliver the most appropriate eco‐driving advice and feedback in real‐time, which, according to Professor Carsten, is why TomTom Telematics was approached to develop an in‐car solution in partnership with the Project.

“When we secured TomTom as our aftermarket driver support system partner the European Commission was incredibly pleased about it,” he says. “We wanted to look at CO2 and fuel consumption levels, we wanted to consider the human element by optimising the feedback and support of the driver depending on the type of road situation, and give support to obtain the most energy‐efficient driving style. We believe OptiDrive 360 covers all these bases.”

OptiDrive 360

OptiDrive 360 is the first product launchmto come out of the ecoDriver Project, and is the latest update to the TomTom Telematics WEBFLEET OptiDrive system. OptiDrive 360 uses a black box system, Bluetooth connectivity, onboard diagnostics and a dashboard navigation screen to advise drivers on how to achieve a greener, safer driving style.

“The new system offers a 360 degree approach to help drivers and companies to continuously improve their driving,” explains Paul Verheijen, product management director at TomTom Telematics. “This covers four areas – LEARN (top tips and tricks for ecodriving), COACH (immediate in‐car feedback for drivers), EVALUATE (reviewing trip data to understand performance) and COMPARE (comparing driving performance to previous trips and peer review).”

Pre‐trip, drivers are given access to best practice advice on how to drive safely and fuel‐efficiently. This is presented as a series of educational units accessed through the WEBFLEET platform, and allows drivers to refresh their understanding of eco‐driving techniques.

Feed-forward

Once behind the wheel, the driver is offered real‐time advice through the dashboard navigation screen on the most efficient driving style for the environment they are in, using map and vehicle data to pinpoint the driver’s exact position and give advice on what to expect from the road ahead.

“OptiDrive 360 can help drivers to prepare for what is coming, or ‘feedforward’, the opposite of ‘feed‐back’,” Professor Carsten explains. “The system can notify of upcoming speed limit changes using map information, sharp turns in the road to optimise safe driving, and information about slopes upwards and downwards to help drivers build up a picture of the road ahead.”

Eco‐driving elements such as gear shifting, constant speed, green speed (most efficient speed) and coasting opportunities are recorded alongside the more traditional KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) of speeding, harsh braking, idling and fuel consumption to build up a picture of the driver’s skill‐level.

Coasting refers to the action of the driver lifting their foot off the accelerator instead of braking: “when approaching an intersection, the driver is encouraged to reduce speed by decelerating in‐gear as distance to the junction is counted down, instead of driving right up to the intersection and braking sharply. This improves driving efficiency and allows the driver to accumulate coasting distances,” says Jasper Pauwelussen, product manager at TomTom Telematics.

Feedback

After the journey is completed, WEBFLEET provides managers with a series of in‐depth reports then enables them to drill deeper for greater analysis and to compare a fleet of drivers.

“Feed‐back tells drivers how they did and gives them tips on how to improve,”

Professor Carsten explains. “To reduce distractions this is only imparted when they have stopped so they are not trying to look at messages while driving. This is where the web tools and back‐office functions come in.”

“The information the driver sees is exactly the same as the information the fleet manager sees to encourage transparency and frank information sharing, and remove the concern of ‘Big Brother is watching you’,” adds Mr Pauwelussen.

The EcoDriver Project conducted trials of the OptiDrive 360 system in Spain, France, UK, Germany, Italy, Sweden and the Netherlands ahead of its launch.