The Energy Department will award $32 million in grants for 10 new projects under its Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy directorate’s Next-Generation Energy Technologies for Connected and Autonomous On-Road Vehicles program.
The projects will utilize new CAV technologies designed to utilize on-board or cloud-based sensors, data and computation capabilities in an effort to mitigate energy usage of connected and automated vehicles, DOE said Wednesday.
NEXTCAR technologies works to provide cruise control and vehicle speed harmonization and energy-saving options for future CAVs and potential vehicle efficiency technologies by co-optimizing with vehicle dynamic and powertrain controls.
Data from CAV systems and NEXTCAR technologies will help vehicles to predict future driving conditions, shifting road grade and interactions between automobiles within multiple intersections.
“As our vehicles become creators and consumers of more and more data, we have a transformative opportunity to put that new information to the additional use of saving energy in our road transportation system,†said Ellen Williams, ARPA-E director.