Ride-pooling and fleet design for electric autonomous mobility-on-demand
Fabio Paparella defended his PhD thesis cum laude at the Department of Mechanical Engineering on December 5th.
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Autonomous Mobility-on-Demand systems use self-driving cars to provide ride-hailing services, offering a potentially more sustainable and efficient way to travel compared to owning private vehicles. However, current systems often fail to deliver their full benefits. This is because the vehicles and services aren鈥檛 always designed with the specific needs of ride-hailing in mind, such as reducing traffic congestion or improving efficiency for users. This makes the systems less appealing and less effective overall. The PhD research of Fabio Paparella focused on improving these systems by creating mathematical tools to optimize how they are designed and operated.
One key area explored by in relation to Autonomous Mobility-on-Demand (AMoD) is ride-pooling, where passengers traveling in similar directions share a car.
Paparella鈥檚 findings show that ride-pooling significantly reduced traffic and travel times for all travelers. Simulations in New York City demonstrate that ride-pooling became more effective as more people used the service, allowing for an increase in the quality of the service provided.
Electric vehicles
Paparella鈥檚 research also looked at electric vehicles for AMoD systems, focusing on how to design fleets and place charging stations efficiently. It showed that the best type of vehicle depended on how many people use the system.
For smaller fleets, vehicles with fewer seats might be better, but for larger fleets, using cars with more seats鈥攅ven if they use more energy鈥攍ed to better results.
It also identified the best ways to manage battery sizes and charging to keep costs low and ensure vehicles were available when needed. For example, a 20-kWh battery was found to be the best size for balancing cost, charging needs, and the ability to meet demand in New York City.
Vehicle-to-grid
Finally, the study explored how using vehicle batteries to send energy back to the grid (called vehicle-to-grid, or V2G) could impact costs and battery life. Paparella found that V2G can sometimes do more harm than good unless carefully planned to avoid unnecessary battery wear.
Overall, this research lays the groundwork for smarter, more efficient AMoD systems that could make transportation in cities cleaner, cheaper, and better for everyone. By focusing on optimizing ride-pooling, electric vehicle design, and charging strategies, these systems could offer a real alternative to private cars, reducing traffic and emissions while meeting the needs of modern urban travel.
Title of PhD thesis: . Supervisors: Theo Hofman and Mauro Salazar Villalon.