Development of Adaptive Powertrain Control Utilizing ADAS and GPS

This paper introduces the advancement of Engine Idle Stop-and-Go (ISG, also known as Auto Engine Stop-Start) and Neutral Coasting Control (NCC) with utilizing Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) and GPS. The ISG and the In-Neutral Coasting (also known as Sailing or Gliding) have been widely implemented in recent vehicles for improving their fuel economy. However, many drivers find them somewhat disturbing because they basically change behaviors of their cars from what they used to. This annoyance discourages usages of those functions and eventually undermines their benefit of fuel saving. In order to mitigate the problem, new ISG and NCC algorithms are proposed. As opposed to the conventional logics that rely only on driver’s pedal action, the new algorithms determine whether or not to enable those functions for the given driving condition, based on the traffic information obtained using ADAS sensors and the location data from GPS and navigation map. With the ADAS module, the movement of a vehicle ahead is continuously monitored, and driver’s reaction to the movement is predicted and reflected in controlling ISG and NCC. The proximity to a traffic point where driver would not want to activate those functions is also observed to automatically deactivate them near the traffic point. This adaptiveness helps enhance the situational appropriateness of the two functions, thereby reducing driver’s discomfort and promoting the usage to save more fuel. This paper describes concepts of the new ISG and NCC algorithms and demonstrates the result of the actual in-vehicle test conducted under real-world traffic.