ITS and Fleet management operations

Transcription

1 ITS and Fleet management operations Andry Rakotonirainy CARRS-Q Queensland University of Technology Abstract: The use of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) offers benefits that reach across all aspects of transportation systems, from road safety to fuel consumption through maintenance and fleet management. ITS have a vital role in effectively moving people and goods across our transport system. In relation to safety in transport, it is estimated that ITS may reduce fatalities and injuries by 40% across the OECD (WHO, 2004). It is also claimed that ITS may reduce CO 2 emissions and overall fuel consumption by 20%. Despite the widespread use of ITS and the sheer amount of on-line information available (e.g. location information), fleet managers have not comprehensively exploited such information to automate and simplify fleet management operations. The aim of this paper is to review current practice. It highlights current limitations of the use and validation of ITS in fleet environments. A further objective of this paper is to demonstrate how ITS may improve fleet safety information exchanges, planning and administration with the view to ensure timely, correct data delivery and management of organisational policy. Introduction In 2010, the number of vehicles in operation worldwide exceeded 1 billion (Wards, 2012). Our society is facing four major transport challenges: saving energy, protecting the environment, improving safety and reducing congestion. Drivers are central to the solution. However, it is now widely accepted that fleet organisations, which own a significant percentage of vehicles, could also contribute significantly. Aside from providing optimal and competitive service quality at a reasonable price, fleet providers are facing a more challenging situation where their key performance indicators are increasingly dependent on intelligent planning, design, and execution of operations. Fleet managers are constantly required to proactively change, improve and extend their service to adapt new international social and political agendas such as emission reduction and road safety improvement. In the safety arena, it is now widely accepted that driver behaviour is the key factor contributing to crashes. Drink driving, speeding, not wearing a seatbelt and driving whilst fatigued continue to remain the four prominent factors contributing to fatal crashes in Australia. Passenger cars represent 87% of the total motor vehicle annual production in the world. The remaining 13% are light commercial vehicles, heavy trucks, buses, coaches and minibuses (OICA, 2012). Passenger vehicles are the most common form of transport in Australia (ABS,1992). Australians spend on average 1 hour and half per day on car travel and 71% of Australians use cars on an average day (ABS, 1992). In Australia, vehicle fleets represent 60% of newly purchased vehicles. This market share puts fleet organisations in the forefront to influence and reshape the automobile 1

2 landscape. Fleet vehicles travel about three times the distance of the average private vehicle (StaySafe 36). Vehicles are increasingly used in a work related setting and road crashes are the most prevalent form of work-related fatalities (Haworth et al., 2000). Work related crashes are higher compared to private driving (Downs et al., 1999; Kweon and Kockelman, 2003). Such trends have led to a growing pressure to improve safety in fleet organisations. Aside from safety issues, the transport sector is responsible for 23% of global CO 2 emissions. Road transport is responsible for 75% of transport sector emissions and freight accounts for up to 30% to 40% of road sector emissions (Ecomove, 2011; EC DG Climate Action, 2010). Governments around the world attempt to decarbonize the transport sector with different means. Such economical and political agendas are passed down to fleet organisations as they are perceived as being able to have an impact. Improving safety and reducing GHG are different important national priorities. They function in different ways. A major element in improving safety and reducing GHG (Green House Gaz) is the driver s engagement in the process. On one hand, the central tenet of improving road safety revolves around reducing or eliminating driver s errors and violations to reduce immediate crash risks. On the other hand, reducing GHG is strongly associated with a driver s awareness of the long term consequences of a driving pattern. Interventions such as eco-driving could reduce GHG and improve safety at the same time (Rakotonirainy et al, 2011). Whilst changing the driver s behaviour with education, training, legislation and enforcement interventions are on-going avenues to improve safety and reduce GHG, the use of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) could complement existing approaches. ITS involve the use of information and communication technologies in transport infrastructure and vehicles. Advances in information and communication technologies have changed the way we perform daily tasks. For the last two decades, ITS research and development efforts have focused on improving mobility, road user s safety and comfort. ITS encompass various approaches such as traffic light control, incident management, in-vehicle passenger information and driver assistance systems. ITS have the potential to reduce fatalities and injuries by 40% across the OECD (OECD, 2004). It is also claimed that ITS may reduce CO 2 emissions and overall fuel consumption by 20% through strategies such as eco-cooperative traffic management (Ecomove, 2011). The accuracy of such prediction remains to be seen. As in any systemic research, pinpointing the main factor contributing to a particular behavioural change is complex and will be subjected to a lively debate. Recent safety related ITS developments have been driven by market demand and have benefited both private as well as fleet organisations. We argue that ITS are underexploited and offer the potential to implement policy specific to fleet management. The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. In section 1, we discuss the trends in ITS hardware and software development. Sections 2 to 4 discuss how fleet organisations manage safety and fuel consumption issues. Finally, a brief statement 2

3 about the absence of comprehensive framework to evaluate ITS intervention precedes the conclusion. ITS software and hardware developments Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) are now at the core of academic and industrial transport research. Recent trends and development in ITS are well documented (Laurgeau, 2009, Bishop 2005). ITS research and development have broadly focused on improving traffic, making journeys safer, greener and more comfortable. A number of new devices have been used in vehicles and on road infrastructure to that extent. New vehicles are now equipped with sophisticated devices such as night vision, automatic parking assistance or eco-driving indicators. The market penetration of ITS in fleet organisations varies considerably in terms of purposes and implementations. For example, taxi fleets in Australia are equipped with job dispatcher systems to increase the fleet's efficiency and the customer s waiting time. The system is aware of the vehicle s location and job allocation. Taxi drivers can list the availability of jobs in each suburb. Such ITS is driven by the need to improve the quality of services to customers, whilst other fleets operating heavy trucks covering a large geographical area, for example, would prioritise safety and opt for ITS devices such as speed limiters or fatigue detection to improve road safety. The developments in ITS, particularly with in-vehicle technology have been hardware driven (Crainic et al, 2010). Such hardware is the building blocks of advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS) which could improve crash risk awareness and management (e.g. radar to detect dangerous objects). ITS utilise a large amount of information from sensors placed in the vehicle, the environment (e.g. road) or from drivers. For example, vision based obstacle detection devices uses complex algorithm to analyse Gigabytes of data stream from on-board camera(s). Information from sensors is used for different purposes. The information could be directly used by the vehicle (e.g ESC), conveyed to the driver (e.g. traffic information) or transferred to a central location (e.g. infringement ticket with APNR). The focus on the development of hardware has resulted in the design of monolithic software. Hence, specialised softwares utilise data from specific in-vehicle sensors. Such dedicated software does not interoperate well with other applications in the vehicle or with the infrastructure. Such a lack of interoperability constrains the development of innovative applications. As already mentioned, the vehicle generates a wealth of useful data. Furthermore, all new vehicles are now equipped with on-board diagnostics (OBD) and controller area network (CAN-BUS) interfaces to access the vehicle s internal network and data. Such information has not been sufficiently drawn on for the driver s use. Such information could be merged with other data source and offer new opportunities for transport related applications (Zhang et al, 2011). However, there are new software development initiatives taking such an approach. For example, the vehicle s location information obtained from GPS (or RFID or Bluetooth) are now used as traffic probes and sent to servers via wireless networks to improve real-time traffic estimation gathered from traditional induction loops. Unfortunately, such a development remains monolithic and at prototype level. Vehicle manufactures are 3

4 realising that they need to open up proprietary in-vehicle data and software and address interoperability issues. A recent initiative led by Ford have released an open source hardware and software (OpenXC) that allows any users to plug new modules with the CAN-BUS and extend the vehicle functionalities with custom applications written for smart devices such as iphone. Aside from in-vehicle data, electronic information generated by specific private or governmental (e.g. infringement) organisations are either monolithic or for exclusive use of the owner. They are shared with other organisations due to intellectual property or privacy issues. This lack of interoperability between systems prevents a muchneeded cooperation between fleets. For example, existing ITS systems should allow Police to send infringement notices to fleet owners promptly so that fleet managers could take immediate internal action. As far as we are aware, infringement notices are sent manually to fleet owners and managed manually internally. Such issues could be entirely automated with ICT systems combining ITS and workflow systems. Use of ITS in Fleet to improve road safety Fleet management addresses a range of issues related to vehicle financing, vehicle leasing, ITS telematics, facility planning, fuel management, maintenance, safety culture management, organizational health and safety management (OHS), speed management or fuel management. The use of ITS in freight and fleet transportation is mainly influenced by the need for better productivity, such as planning optimal merchandise distribution. Location information such as GPS is amongst the main information utilised for route dispatching and planning to reduce time delivery and freight costs. Transport logistics service providers are increasingly using ITS to provide better quality of service to their customers. However, implementing transport logistics concepts, techniques and principles with ITS is still in its infancy. For example, fleets have not fully exploited nor translated the large sets of data provided by ITS to increase business profitability. Passenger vehicles owned by fleets do not feature ITS devices dedicated to fleet safety requirements. To our knowledge, there are no specific ITS devices for fleets, using passenger vehicles, which can address the fatal four (seatbelt, speed, fatigue, alcohol) beyond what is already installed in non-fleet owned vehicles. Depending on the type of vehicle, safety features can be optional when a new vehicle is purchased. Fleet managers could choose special features or a particular vehicle model when purchasing their new fleet, with the view to meeting organisational policy targets. This is the case for most government fleets in Australia, where ESC and ABS are required on all new vehicles. However, as light trucks and trucks are generally owned by fleets, and as fleet organisations drive market demand, this imposes truck manufacturers to fit new vehicles with devices of their own choosing. For example, Scania trucks uses ITS extensively to provide on-board coaching. This system detects situations whilst driving, providing instant feedback on driving performance and challenges drivers to perform well. 4

5 Regardless of the type of vehicles owned by a fleet organisation, it has been shown that occupational road safety interventions are efficient in the fleet context (Banks et al. 2010). Interventions such as policy development, a web-based risk management tool, awareness and information campaigns, goal setting, performance feedback, selfmonitoring forms, signing safety pledge cards, interlock devices (alcohol detection), fatigue management technology devices, in-vehicle compensatory devices, and in-car data recorders are promising approaches to improve safety in the fleet context (Banks et al. 2010). ITS and Fleet sustainability management Climate change has become a prominent societal issue. The last decade was characterised by a strong policy push to improve the environmental performance of transport. There are a growing number of initiatives aimed at reducing the environmental impacts of transport. Nationally, QFleet in Queensland has adopted the climate smart program which addresses the reduction of CO 2 emissions from government vehicles and ensures that the fleet is as environmentally responsible as possible (QFleet, 2008). In NSW, there is government initiative to reduce emissions from passenger and light commercial vehicles (FleetWise). These intervention ranges from improving driver practices to adopting alternative vehicle and fuel technologies. In the US, The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and NHTSA launched a joint program: Reduce Greenhouse Gases and Improve Fuel Economy for Cars and Trucks. The target is to reduce vehicle emissions down to 250 grams of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) per mile in The Clinton Global initiative plan is aimed at reducing emission levels of commercial fleets by 20%, thereby reducing more than 500,000 metric tonnes of greenhouse gases over the next 5 years. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development has released guidelines to achieve ecoefficiency at different levels of organisation in the firm or at micro-level through the provision of competitively priced goods and services that satisfy human needs and bring quality of life while progressively reducing ecological impacts and resource intensity. ITS have the potential to reduce transport s CO 2 emission (COSMO,2011). Vehicles types and sizes have different fuel consumptions and CO 2 emission patterns. A fleet organisational setting might have a greater likelihood to influence the use of a particular type of vehicle (e.g. V4 versus V8 cylinder). Such a setting has a greater potential to instill a stronger fuel efficiency awareness culture and reduce CO 2 emissions than via the general public. Providing feedback on driver s performance related to safety and CO 2 emissions remains in its infancy at fleet level. There is no framework to award or penalise drivers who are not contributing to the goal set by fleet owners. ITS can gather relevant information and inform fleet managers or the driver in real time or through regular reports. For example, by using existing ITS technology it is not costly to report the location where the driver exceeded the speed limit (GPS), drove in aggressive manner (accelerometer), didn t wear a seatbelt (CAN-BUS), attempted to drive whilst intoxicated (interlock), fatigue driving (lane keeping pattern, eye tracker). 5

6 Evaluation framework for fleet It has been shown that encouraging the purchase of new vehicles with a higher safety (crashworthiness) rate could provide cost-effective reductions in serious injuries and fatalities (Paine, 2002). Fleets are in the best position to influence such a purchase, given that they purchase up to 60% of new vehicles and as those vehicles have good safety features are resold after 2-3 years, thereby benefiting the second-hand market and the wider community. Fleets in Australia have already been instrumental in reducing CO 2 emissions by phasing out high cylinder vehicles (V6 and V8). They are also starting to purchase hybrids vehicles and are evaluating the benefits of deploying electric cars. There is no complete framework which allows a comprehensive assessment of the safety benefits of ITS (Kulmala, 2010). Fleet organisations have always been considered as the ideal context to perform micro deployment and evaluation of a particular intervention. One might think that an ITS deployment and evaluation on a smaller scale than fleet organisations may be easier. However, the purpose and implementation of ITS interventions in fleets are so diverse that it is not easy to fully compare and evaluate interventions. Furthermore, there is a lack of comprehensive data showing how effective ITS interventions are in a work related setting. Despite the widely claimed benefits of ITS, there is still no clear standard guidelines for ITS deployment and evaluation for fleets. There is a need for a framework, which captures various fundamental issues such as legal, user/organisational acceptance, technical, organisational, and operational, procurement and evaluation of ITS systems. Although purchase choice is a major conduit to introduce new ITS in vehicles, an evaluation of the influence of fleet policy on driver behaviour in terms of safer driving or adopting environmentally friendly practices is required. Conclusion This paper reviews what is known regarding the use of ITS in the fleet context. A central theme to emerge from this review is that the Tsunami of data provided by ITS is not fully exploited by fleet managers to improve their management operations. ITS solutions such as GPS, telematics, logistics together with pure IT solutions such as web enabled technologies, offer opportunities to improve driver s and fleet productivity. There is a need to expand efforts to bring fleet management to embrace sustainability and safety management, accommodating the multiple and varied economic, social, technological and ecological constraints. Addressing the lack of ITS software interoperability, lack of understanding of potential benefits of ITS in a fleet setting, and lack of harmonization in the goals of different organisations (e.g. fleet, government, IT industry) and lack of validation are amongst the serious issues which need to be particularly addressed by fleet management. There is also a need to assess particular interventions with respect to legislation and its enforcement within and outside the organisation. The absence of benchmarks to assess ITS strengths and weaknesses, and their effectiveness is a stumbling block 6

7 which makes it difficult to understand and compare the current ITS interventions in place. References Banks, Tamara D., Davey, Jeremy D., Biggs, Herbert C., & King, Mark J. (2010) A review of the effectiveness of occupational road safety initiatives. In Dorn, Lisa, Matthews, Gerald, & Glendon, Ian (Eds.) Driver Behaviour and Training. Ashgate, pp Bishop R. (2005) Intelligent Vehicle Technology and Trends. Artech House publisher. COSMO (2011) Co-operative Systems for Sustainable Mobility and Energy Efficiency. FP7 European Union Project. Crainic T.G, Gendreau M., Potvin J-Y(2009) Intelligent freight-transportation systems: Assessment and the contribution of operations research. Transportation Research Part C 17 (2009) EC DG Climate Action (2010): EcoMove (2011) Kulmala R. (2010) Ex-ante assessment of the safety effects of intelligent transport systems. Accident Analysis and Prevention 42(2010) Laurgeau C. (2009) Le siècle de la voiture intelligente. Presses des Mines PariTech Collection Mathematique et Informatique. McKenna F.P (2006) Changing driver behaviour? Road Safety Congress OICA (2012) International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (OICA) Wordometers ( Paine M. (2002) Encouraging the purchase of safer vehicles. Report for Department for Planning and Infrastructure, Western Australia December Qfleet (2008) ClimateSmart Policy for the Queensland government motor vehicle fleet - ISBN Rakotonirainy, A., Haworth, N., Saint-Pierre, G. & Delhomme, P. (2011) Research issues in Eco-driving. To appear in 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles June 13-16, 2011 Washington, DC. StaySafe (2008) NSW Parliament Road Safety Committee joint Standing Committee on Road Safety Wards (2012) Information center for Global auto Industry (wardsauto.com) 7

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