It\u2019s worth giving some thought to the routes we take when we\u2019re driving. Navigation systems will usually recommend the quickest route to your destination, and you might expect the quickest route to produce the least carbon dioxide. After all, if you\u2019re on the road for less time, aren\u2019t you using less fuel?<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, that\u2019s not always the case.<\/p>\n
In the spring of 2020, Neste, HERE technologies, PTV Group and VTT collaborated on a small experiment in the Helsinki area to see whether navigation systems recommended the \u2018most CO2<\/sub>-friendly route\u2019. The gist of the experiment was this:<\/p>\n In a third of the cases, the navigation system\u2019s recommended route wasn\u2019t the most environmentally friendly. The most fuel-efficient route tended to be the shortest, which wasn\u2019t necessarily the fastest. You can find Neste\u2019s writeup here<\/a>.<\/p>\n You might have caught that 13 isn\u2019t a large sample size, and it\u2019s hard to draw firm conclusions from small experiments. Still, it\u2019s interesting that such a large proportion of the recommended routes weren\u2019t the most fuel-efficient even in a small sample. There\u2019s clearly room for more work to be done on finding the most environmentally friendly driving routes possible, and that\u2019s one of the areas Darwin is interested in.<\/p>\n The Darwin SatCom Lab<\/a> has been experimenting with using LiDAR sensors to track the carbon dioxide output of its connected autonomous vehicles (CAVs). By switching seamlessly between satellite and 5G, Darwin can remain constantly connected to its vehicles and receive data on the carbon footprint of the fleet in real time. O2, which aims to become net zero carbon by 2025<\/a>, is supporting this research.<\/p>\n Gathering clear, accurate information on the fuel efficiency of routes is essential if we want to train navigation systems to cut down on CO2<\/sub> emissions. A human driver can choose to take a more environmentally friendly route than the one that navigation software recommends, but it\u2019s obviously harder for a fully autonomous vehicle to overrule the recommended route. If navigation software is provided with information about emissions, and if it\u2019s taught to value the environment as well as speed, it\u2019ll result in lower CO2<\/sub> emissions for both human drivers and CAVs.<\/p>\n Darwin\u2019s ability to track carbon dioxide emissions is something delivery companies can also make use of. We can measure the emissions of all the vehicles in a fleet based on the vehicle\u2019s age, the weight of the load, the type of fuel and so on. We\u2019ll also look at the satellite imagery of the route each vehicle takes, so we can put the data in context and take, for example, carbon capture from trees into account. With all this knowledge, we can give informed advice on how the fleet can reduce its carbon footprint.<\/p>\n In some cases, it may be possible to replace a diesel or petrol fleet with electric vehicles, based on the availability of charging points. We can give advice on that as well.<\/p>\n In the fight against climate change, the changes that individuals or companies make can add up to make a real difference. We want to help identify and make those changes.<\/p>\n Darwin Innovation Group is a UK-based company that provides services related to autonomous vehicles and communications. If you\u2019re interested in working with us, take a look at our careers page<\/u><\/a>. If you\u2019d like to know how we can help your organisation make use of autonomous vehicles, contact us<\/u><\/a>. You can also follow us on LinkedIn<\/u><\/a> or Twitter<\/u><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s worth giving some thought to the routes we take when we\u2019re driving. Navigation systems will usually recommend the quickest route to your destination, and you might expect the quickest route to produce the least carbon dioxide. After all, if you\u2019re on the road for less time, aren\u2019t you using less fuel?<\/p>\n Unfortunately, that\u2019s not always the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":1269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,129,118],"tags":[130,75,124],"class_list":["post-1268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environmental-issues-es","category-informative-es","category-transportation-es","tag-informative-es","tag-environmental-issues-es","tag-transporte-es"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n