Volvo has developed an innovative automated efficient driving system that could co-ordinate trucks with traffic lights in order to ensure diesel vehicles are used as fuel efficiently as possible.

 

The company announced this month that as part of an EU-funded project, it has developed a dashboard screen that reminds drivers to avoid hard acceleration and encourages them to maximise engine braking - techniques that it says can help achieve fuel savings in excess of 10 per cent.

 

Guillaume Vernet, project manager in the Volvo Group's Intelligent Transport Systems division, said the control unit installed in the truck or coach senses if the driver is accelerating too hard, if the driver's foot moves too quickly from the accelerator to the brake, or if the vehicle is in too low a gear.

 

The information is then displayed on the dashboard screen, encouraging drivers to change their habits in order to save fuel.

 

The company said it now aims to add map data and GPS to the system to help drivers plan for road conditions ahead of them.

 

A final stage of the project could see wireless communication with traffic lights introduced that signals the time remaining until the lights change to red or green. The driver would then know what speed to maintain to avoid stopping at the traffic light, avoiding one of the biggest causes of lorry fuel consumption - acceleration from a standing start.

 

"It is difficult to provide a general figure about how much fuel can be saved from this technology," Vernet said. "But, in areas with frequent changes in speed, fuel consumption is about 10-15 per cent lower. For haulage companies, this can represent substantial financial savings over a year and a considerable boost toward a better environment."