This paper presents an autonomous cruise control for battery electric vehicles. The presented approach is based on the usage of predictive route data which is extracted out of a digital map and a wide range radar system in order to capture vehicles in front.
By using the predictive route data and the information of the radar system, the autonomous cruise control can control the vehicle's speed over a wide range of driving situations without any driver interaction.
The main aim of the presented autonomous cruise control is to optimize the battery electric vehicle's energy consumption. The main idea is to use predictive route data in order to calculate a consumption optimal vehicle speed trajectory by means of online optimization. The benefits of the autonomous cruise control are shown by means of real test drives and measured data evaluation. Also, this paper gives an outlook how energy consumption can be further optimized by using an automatic transmission in the battery electric vehicle in combination with a predictive gear selection strategy.
