Design of a switching nonlinear MPC for emission aware ecodriving

Advanced automation and information systems are shaping the future of transportation by enabling advanced approaches, such as ecodriving control strategies, which improve safety and energy efficiency of personal transport. This paper contributes to the field of ecodriving control by developing a novel approach capable to deal with curvy roads, combining road grade and curvature look ahead to keep the driving comfortable, while also considering pollutant emissions. The formulation and solution of emission aware ecodriving as an optimal control problem is presented and, more specifically, a novel switching Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) is proposed. Its feasibility and potential are shown by means of simulation case studies based on real world test cases, a validated vehicle model, and measured road topology. Hence, it is shown that emission aware ecodriving is a viable option and that developers of future ecodriving systems should expand their focus from solely energy efficiency towards additional targets.