Tuesday, September 19, 2023 | 12:00 – 1:00 PM (ET)
About the Webinar:
Many travelers use Google Maps to select the route for their trip and the Google recommendation can have a significant impact on traffic congestion. Google recently added a new route option: the most fuel-efficient route. In theory, the algorithm behind this route selection (RouteE) examines the current travel conditions on the available routes and estimates typical fuel consumption based on those conditions. This should include acceleration/deceleration events as these change of speed events significantly impact fuel consumption. Initial testing of the Google Maps algorithm indicates it may not account for these speed changes. These tests included several vehicles equipped with onboard diagnostic (OBD) data loggers that recorded key aspects of the vehicle operations while driving in real-world traffic conditions, including fuel consumption. The OBD data was compared to RouteE and MOVES. Both RouteE and MOVES had limitations, with RouteE missing the actual fuel consumption by a significant amount and did not appear to accurately incorporate speed changes of vehicles in real-world situations. Using the real-world fuel consumption data collected in this study, along with detailed speed profiles, researchers developed equations that could be used to estimate fuel consumption based on microscopic traffic data of vehicle speeds.
About the Presenters:
Mark Burris, PhD, is the Herbert D. Kelleher Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Texas A&M University and a research engineer with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. His main area of interest is traveler behavior in response to pricing, particularly congestion (or value) pricing. He has served in an evaluation and monitoring role for managed/express lane projects around the country. He has also led many studies and surveys on how travelers will react to innovative tolling strategies and the costs and benefits associated with those projects. He recently completed a 6-year term as chair of TRB’s transportation economics committee. Prior to joining Texas A&M in August 2001, he was a senior research associate at the Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) in Tampa, Florida. Learn more about Dr. Burris.
Jeremy Johnson is currently a research specialist IV in the Air Quality Group at TTI. He has been with the Air Quality Group for over 13 years and has over 23 total years of transportation related research experience at TTI. Currently, he manages the Environmental and Emissions Research Facility (EERF) located on TTI’s RELLIS Campus. The EERF is a state-of-the-art environmental test chamber that allows for temperature and humidity controlled testing of emissions and other temperature related testing, including cold shipping testing in the shipping industry. Mr. Johnson has been involved in numerous testing and data collection projects during his time at TTI. He was involved in the design and testing of an On-road Heavy-duty Measurement System (OHMS), which is a technology used to identify high-emitting vehicles in a fleet, without the need to remove them from service for testing. He was also recently involved in an EPA study looking at the operation characteristics of non-road fleets in both the private and public sectors. In addition to these projects, he has been involved in numerous other testing and data collection efforts, including both vehicle emissions data and vehicle activity data. His expertise includes emissions testing, activity data collection and analysis, cold chain shipping verification testing, and data analysis.
Mahim Khan is a master’s student in civil engineering. Mahim works as a research assistant at TTI.
