Browse Topic: Taxi fleets

Items (8)
Find
Congestion-busting with Autonomous Shuttles20AVEP03_103/1/2020
GoMentum is safety-testing two Local Motors shuttles at AAA's expansive NorCal proving grounds and new V2X lab. It was uneventful when an eight-passenger, low-speed driverless shuttle crawled at about 10 mph (16 km/h) toward the intersection at the GoMentum Station AV proving grounds in Concord, Calif. The crisp morning temperatures didn't get any more exciting when a mechanical pedestrian-dummy intentionally moved in the self-driving vehicle's path. The shuttle's six lidars, six radars and two military-grade GPS units brought the slow-moving vehicle gently to a stop within a courteous distance usually not granted by human drivers. The demo was dull for the handful of journalists on hand. But Jay Rogers, the chief executive of Local Motors-the producer of the shuttle dubbed “Olli” - was bubbling with enthusiasm. Rogers believes that the potential for low-speed connected and autonomous shuttles outweighs the promise of conventional vehicles transformed into full-stack robo-taxis.
Berman, Bradley
Taking a City’s Pulse with Moveable SensorsTBMG-351979/1/2019
Suppose you have 10 taxis in Manhattan. What portion of the borough’s streets do they cover in a typical day?
Development of New CNG-Gasoline (Bi-fuel) Lubricant, by Taxi Fleet Screening Test and Field Trial in Thailand2012-01-16229/10/2012
An internal combustion engine operating on compressed natural gas (CNG) as fuel is usually under higher thermal stress compared to the same engine using gasoline fuel. This leads to various concerns on the operation of CNG engine and the performance of the lubricant, such increased wear, accelerated total base number depletion, and faster deterioration of the lubricant. Engine oil intended for compressed natural gas (CNG)-gasoline bi-fuel passenger car application must therefore be formulated to withstand the varied and often severe operating conditions, as well as maintain superior lubrication control and prolong engine life. PTT Public Company Limited (PTT) has developed a new CNG-gasoline lubricant meeting API SN/GF-5 performance category that is able to address the various operating concerns of bi-fuel passenger car engines, and at the same time provides extended oil drain interval (ODI) capability. This formulation development comprised of two rigorous field trial phases conducted in Bangkok, Thailand. The first phase involved the screening of various candidate formulations developed by PTT in a fleet of high mileage bi-fuel taxi vehicles. A final candidate formula was selected for further proof of performance in the second phase controlled field trial. This second phase controlled field trial was carried out on five new bi-fuel vehicles and two new conventional gasoline vehicles, and at an extended ODI of up to 25,000 km as compared to original recommended 10,000 km ODI. The engines of 3 field trial vehicles were inspected at the end of trial. The CNG-gasoline bi-fuel engines were observed to in excellent condition with minimum sludge & deposit issue, as well as an excellent used oil analysis (UOA) result throughout the trial. Despite the trial was run at extended ODI, the nitration/oxidation number and total acid number (TAN) growth/total base number (TBN) depletion were well-controlled. In addition, the candidate formula exhibited minimal engine wear, superior piston deposit ratings, as well as rendering potential fuel economy benefit. The candidate formula has shown to exceed the performance requirement for the latest CNG-gasoline (bi-fuel) passenger cars, and even for high mileage bi-fuel taxi vehicles under severe driving conditions in Bangkok, Thailand.
Predapitakkun, Sunthorn, Chia, Boon Ping, Rungwanitcha, Chetwana, Tang, Tristan
Appetite for cars growing in ChinaAUTOAUG03_018/1/2003
Automakers and suppliers the world over are scrambling to establish or expland manufacturing operations in China as income growth spurs a rapid rise in car sales. With a population four times that of the U.S., China is too massive a potential mass market to miss-or dismiss. Automotive OEMs and suppliers from across the globe are intent on cultivating as large a mass market as the country's Communist rule will accommodate. They aren't about to let stand in the way little things such as a viral epidemic and a native engineering community that has little behind-the-wheel experience. And neither are their Chinese partners. An increase of about 50% in passenger vehicle sales from 2001 to 2002 is evidence that engineering inexperience and other growing pains are not deterring growth. At 1,126,000, passenger car purchases surpassed 1 million for the first time last year. Overall vehicle sales, including trucks and buses, totaled 3.25 million in 2002.
Ponticel, Patrick
Driver characteristic using driving monitoring recorder2001-06-00686/4/2001
A field trial has been carried out using a set of automatic recording systems, Driving Monitoring Recorder (DMR) with GPS and Event Eye Camera (EEC). They were installed on total numbers of 105 vehicles in four fleets of taxis and trucks in Tokyo area for 4 years in order to assess the implications in driving characteristic and traffic conditions. DMR can record the data such as running speed versus time continually, and frequencies of emergency behavior are counted and recorded on drive whenever hard braking is exceeded by 3.75m/s 2, and rapid starting and sharp acceleration is exceeded by 3.5 m/s 2. Also, EEC can record the driver views in pre- and post scene during 10 seconds by event detecting trigger. The 80 subjects are taxi drivers including 10 females and 30 truck drivers. The drivers were monitored for some months continuously. In addition, the drivers were examined by a driving aptitude test. The analysis result indicates that individual drivers have a specific driving performance on drives, and it suggest that drivers will be able to specified their driver characteristics by DMR data. For simplicity, we defined the "'Index of bad behavior'' score as simply adding points of numbers of the three emergency actions per 100 km running. The drivers are classified into 4 groups, ranked A, B, C and D levels according the index score, which ranging from careless driver to model of safety driver. The ranks are compared with the results of driving aptitude test. To assess driver behavior, EEC images were examined when, where and what condition emergency behavior occurred. As results of EEC image analysis, some drivers with high bad index scores had driven at the head mostly, and frequent rapid lane changing and sharp turn actions. In conclusion, a set of the automatic recording systems can offer useful data to study driver characteristics. In addition, the important aspect of this study is persuasively, most drivers tend to accept these data without complaining to improve their safety drive because of digital data and image data.
Ueyama, Masaru
Global Automotive Industry and Technology Transfer95279012/1/1995
As many of the matured automotive vehicle markets such as North America, Europe and Japan become saturated and fiercely competitive, world major auto manufacturers have been looking for other parts of the globe as potential markets where they could make additional sales and achieve better returns on their invested manufacturing facilities, tooling and engineering. The globalization of automotive technology will take place as the major players alone or with local partner(s) develop, manufacture and market vehicles globally. Historically, two decades ago GM successfully pioneered a single world car design, Chevette which was built in six countries. The recent Ford global car, “CDW-27” is an ambitious program aimed at global market and is still to be evaluated for it's success. Because of the perceived advantage of global operations and improved world trade environment, it is generally expected that globalization of the auto industry will be accelerated on a even faster pace. However, not everything is as rosy as it appears and there are tremendous challenges and problems. For example, globalized vehicle engineering and manufacturing produces product failures and recall problems on a global scale. In this paper, a brief North American perspective of 80s’ globalization of auto industry, the role of transplants in technology transfer, a global car strategy, challenges and problems associated with globalization of the auto industry will be reviewed.
Choi, Soo-Young
A Statistical Analysis of the Effect of MMT Concentration on Hydrocarbon Emissions8003932/1/1980
Statistical analyses of extensive fleet test data from several sources with the gasoline antiknock additive, MMT, provide mathematical models for each car make that show the effect of MMT and mileage accumulation on hydrocarbon emissions. These models show: 1. Engine-out hydrocarbons increase linearly with MMT concentration in the fuel up to 50,000 miles, which is the limit of the data. 2. MMT results in enhancement of catalyst converter efficiency, which also shows a response to the MMT concentration in the fuel.
Hughmark, G. A., Sobel, B. A.
Holographic Inspection of Tires7400712/1/1974
A method of non-destructively detecting internal anomalies or void areas in tires can be a valuable tool for tire structural analysis. Such a system has become commercially available. This system uses holographic interferometry in conjunction with vacuum stressing to non-destructively inspect tires for internal voids or anomalies. A holographic non-destructive testing (HNDT) system has been purchased by General Motors Proving Ground and has been utilized by the Tire & Wheel Development Laboratory for structural analysis of tires prior to, during, and after testing. The HNDT equipment is described and the process and utility of passenger car tire analysis explained.
Cannazzaro, Michael J., Hill, Fredrick W.
Items per page:
1 – 8 of 8