Energy and emission responsive routing for vehicles

• US 8,014,914 B2
• Filed: 12/05/2008
• Issued: 09/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated (Kyndryl Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Boss, Gregory J., Hamilton, II, Rick A., O'Connell, Brian M., Pickover, Clifford A., Walker, Keith R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Koppikar, Vivek D
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ng, Jonathan K
• Application Number:
  US12/328,883
• Publication Number:
  US 20100145609A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,005 Days
• Field of Search: 701/22, 701/100, 701/117, 701/123, 701/200, 705/317
• US Class Current: 701/22
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3469 Fuel consumption; Energy use; Emission aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products

Abstract

Methods, including service methods, articles of manufacture, systems, articles and programmable devices are provided for vehicle route planning as a function of vehicle type. A plurality of different routes for travel by a vehicle from a trip origin to a destination is determined, and the vehicle identified as either an internal combustion engine vehicle type or a hybrid vehicle type. A programmable device is caused to recommend a route of the determined plurality of routes to an operator of the identified vehicle as a function of the identified vehicle type, wherein a route recommended to the identified internal combustion engine vehicle type is different from a route recommended to the identified hybrid vehicle type. In some examples, identifying the vehicle as configured to generate operative energy through a regenerative braking energy component results in recommending a route will cause more breaking over a faster route.

Claims

1. A method for vehicle route planning as a function of vehicle type, comprising:

determining a plurality of different routes for travel by a vehicle from a trip origin to a destination;

identifying the vehicle as a hybrid vehicle type that generates operative energy through a regenerative braking energy component or an internal combustion engine vehicle type;

recommending via a programmable device a route of the plurality of routes to an operator of the identified vehicle as a function of the identified vehicle type by;

determining that traveling a first route of the plurality of routes will result in a faster total travel time to the destination relative to traveling a second route of the plurality of routes;

determining that traveling the second route will cause more braking by the vehicle relative to traveling the first route;

recommending the first route over the second route to an operator of the identified internal combustion engine vehicle type for traveling to the trip destination as a function of the faster total travel time;

recommending the second route over the first route to an operator of the identified hybrid vehicle for traveling to the trip destination as a function of the more braking determination; and

wherein a route recommended to the identified internal combustion engine vehicle type is different from a route recommended to the identified hybrid vehicle type.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified vehicle is the hybrid vehicle, further comprising:

determining that traveling over the first route and the second route will each result in a faster total travel time for the hybrid vehicle to the destination than traveling over a third route of the route plurality;

determining that traveling the third route will cause more braking by the hybrid vehicle than traveling the first route and less upward elevation change relative to traveling the second route; and

recommending the third route over the first route and the second route to an operator of the hybrid vehicle for traveling to the trip destination as a function of the more braking and the less upward elevation change determination.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining that traveling the second route will cause more braking by the vehicle than traveling the first route comprises determining that the second route has more turns than the first route.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified vehicle is the hybrid vehicle, the hybrid vehicle configured to store and use generated operative energy through a storage battery, further comprising:

comparing a power level of the storage battery to a low condition threshold;

rerouting the hybrid vehicle to another route of the plurality of routes from a current route automatically when battery power level is lower than the low condition threshold, the another route having at least one of;

a lower total travel time to the destination;

a proximity to a storage battery recharging station; and

a proximity to a renewable fuel filling station.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising conditioning recommending the second route over the first route to the identified hybrid vehicle for traveling to the trip destination upon at least one of:

estimating that traveling the second route will add no more than a maximum additional time value to a total travel time of the first route to the destination; and

estimating that traveling the second route will conserve a minimum amount of fuel relative to traveling the faster first route.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified vehicle is the hybrid vehicle, further comprising:

determining an overheating of a braking system of the hybrid vehicle; and

rerouting the hybrid vehicle from a current route automatically to another route of the plurality of routes having less stop-and-go traffic until the braking system overheating abates.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein determining that traveling the second route will cause more braking by the vehicle than traveling the first route comprises determining that the second route has a stop-and-go traffic pattern.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein determining that the second route has a stop-and-go traffic pattern comprises determining that the second route has more enforced traffic control items than the first route.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein determining that the second route has a stop-and-go traffic pattern comprises determining that the second route has more congested traffic than the first route.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified vehicle is the hybrid vehicle, the hybrid vehicle is configured to store and use generated operative energy through a storage battery, further comprising:

determining that traveling the first route and the second route will each will result in a faster total travel time for the hybrid vehicle to the destination than traveling over a third route of the route plurality and that traveling the third route will cause more braking by the hybrid vehicle than traveling the first route;

determining that the third route has an average speed limit lower than a threshold speed and that the second route has an average speed limit greater than or equal to the threshold speed; and

recommending the third route over the first route and the second route for traveling to the trip destination as a function of the more braking and the average speed limit determining.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the threshold speed is a speed at which the hybrid vehicle is configured to engage an internal combustion engine power source to provide operative energy for traveling.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the threshold speed is a speed at which the hybrid vehicle can generate energy by the determined third route braking through the regenerative braking energy component to provide operative energy for traveling and avoid engaging the internal combustion engine power source.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising effecting a carbon offset automatically in response to an operator of the identified vehicle overriding the first route recommending or the second route recommending by selecting another of the plurality of routes.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising an entity effecting the carbon offsetting as a function of the identified vehicle traveling proximate to a physical location of the entity on the selected first route.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising a service provider deploying a computational device infrastructure comprising the programmable device, wherein the computational device infrastructure is configured to:

determine the plurality of different routes for travel;

identify the vehicle as either the internal combustion engine vehicle type or the hybrid vehicle type configured to generate operative energy through a regenerative braking energy component;

determine that traveling the first route will result in a faster total travel time to the destination relative to traveling the second route;

determine that traveling the second route will cause more braking by the vehicle relative to traveling the first route;

recommend the first route over the second route to an operator of the identified internal combustion engine vehicle type for traveling to the trip destination as the function of the faster total travel time; and

recommend the second route over the first route to an operator of the identified hybrid vehicle for traveling to the trip destination as the function of the more braking determination.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the computational device infrastructure is configured to determine that traveling the second route will cause more braking by the vehicle than traveling the first route by determining that the second route has more turns than the first route.

17. A method for vehicle route planning as a function of vehicle type, comprising:

producing computer executable program code;

storing the code on a computer readable medium;

providing the program code to be deployed and executed on a computer system,

the program code causing the computer system to;

determine a plurality of different routes for travel by a vehicle from a trip origin to a destination;

identify the vehicle as either a hybrid vehicle type that generates operative energy through a regenerative braking energy component or an internal combustion engine vehicle type;

recommend a route of the plurality of routes to an operator of the identified vehicle as a function of the identified type by;

determining that traveling a first route of the plurality of routes will result in a faster total travel time to the destination relative to traveling a second route of the plurality of routes;

determining that traveling the second route will cause more braking by the vehicle relative to traveling the first route;

recommending the first route over the second route to an operator of the identified internal combustion engine vehicle type for traveling to the trip destination as a function of the faster total travel time;

recommending the second route over the first route to an operator of the identified hybrid vehicle for traveling to the trip destination as a function of the more braking determination; and

wherein a route recommended to the identified internal combustion engine vehicle type is different from a route recommended to the identified hybrid vehicle type.

18. A programmable device comprising:

a processing means;

a memory in communication with the processing means; and

a network interface in communication with the processing means and the memory;

wherein the processing means is configured to;

determine a plurality of different routes for travel by a vehicle from a trip origin to a destination;

identify the vehicle as either an internal combustion engine vehicle type or a hybrid vehicle type configured to generate operative energy through a regenerative braking energy component;

determine that traveling a first route of the route plurality will result in a faster total travel time to the destination relative to traveling a second route of the route plurality;

determine that traveling the second route will cause more braking by the vehicle relative to traveling the first route;

recommending the first route over the second route to an operator of the identified internal combustion engine vehicle type for traveling to the trip destination as a function of the faster total travel time; and

recommend the second route over the first route to an operator of the identified hybrid vehicle for traveling to the trip destination as a function of the more braking determination.