The Right Vehicle For Every Driver

Our mobility is currently changing rapidly. Trends such as electromobility, autonomous driving and car sharing are changing our driving behavior and opening up new future markets. Researchers in the project group New Drive Systems NAS at the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT have designed a data logger that enables new car generations that are tailored to the needs and driving behavior of the individual. The data logger provides insights into how vehicles are used. For this purpose, it is installed in the car for several weeks and months, stores all relevant operating data during this period and helps the researchers to create usage-specific evaluations. These include characteristics such as route profile or driving style - when does the driver drive more conservatively, when more dynamically?

Conclusions about handling the vehicle

The analyzes allow a variety of conclusions to be drawn about the handling of the vehicle: for example, whether the driver is using an automobile tailored to his needs. "By collecting many such profiles, we are able to combine several users into user groups and evaluate the driving data in a group-specific manner," says Tobias Burgert, research assistant at the ICT. This can result in representative driving cycles that are used in the development of new cars, for example to use them in virtual driving tests in vehicle simulations.

The special feature of the data logger: It can be configured flexibly, its use is not limited to conventional vehicles with internal combustion engines. In addition to the parameters of a classic drive train such as engine speed or lambda value or thermal conductivity, the researchers can also record data from an electric drive, such as the state of charge of the battery. Due to the flexible configurability, the quality of the analyzed signals can be increased - if the collection of irrelevant data is dispensed with, the prioritized parameters can be recorded with a higher sampling rate. At the same time, data from external sensors such as a GPS module, an acceleration sensor or a gyro sensor can be recorded and combined with the pure vehicle data for evaluation.

Used to design hybrid vehicles

Its versatility makes the data logger interesting for industrial partners. In an initial cooperation, an international OEM (OEM) is already using it when designing hybrid vehicles. Another possible area of ​​application is the management of vehicle fleets. The operators can use evaluations to understand exactly how the existing vehicles are used and always provide the right vehicle for the respective driver. In addition, usage scenarios that include route profiles and the respective energy requirements can be used to draw conclusions about future investments in the fleet in order to specifically purchase vehicles with combustion engines, hybrid vehicles or purely electric vehicles.

Technically, the data logger is based on the Raspberry Pi single-board computer, in which all electronic components are installed on a circuit board. This makes it inexpensive to buy for future customers. Installation and commissioning are straightforward, the user can do this himself. The device reads the vehicle data via the vehicle's OBD-II interface, which is already installed in every vehicle. The data transfer between OBD-II interface and data logger via Bluetooth is handled by an adapter from the Karlsruhe startup PACE Telematics GmbH. (jv)