Robotics: Science and Systems XIV

On the interaction between Autonomous Mobility-on-Demand systems and the power network: models and coordination algorithms

Federico Rossi, Ramon Iglesias, Mahnoosh Alizadeh, Marco Pavone

Abstract:

This paper studies the interaction between a fleet of electric, self-driving vehicles servicing on-demand transportation requests (referred to as Autonomous Mobility-on-Demand, or AMoD, system) and the electric power network. We propose a joint linear model that captures the coupling between the two systems stemming from the vehicles’ charging requirements. The model subsumes existing network flow models for AMoD systems and DC models for the power network, and it captures time-varying customer demand and power generation costs, road congestion, and power transmission and distribution constraints. We then leverage the model to jointly optimize the operation of both systems. We devise an algorithmic procedure to losslessly reduce the problem size by bundling customer requests, allowing it to be efficiently solved by off-the-shelf linear programming solvers. We then study the implementation of a hypothetical electric-powered AMoD system in Dallas-Fort Worth, and its impact on the Texas power network. We show that coordination between the AMoD system and the power network can reduce the overall energy expenditure compared to the case where no cars are present (despite the increased demand for electricity) and yield savings of $182M/year compared to an uncoordinated scenario. Finally, we provide a closed-loop receding-horizon implementation. Collectively, the results of this paper provide a first-of-a-kind characterization of the interaction between electric-powered AMoD systems and the power network, and shed additional light on the economic and societal value of AMoD.

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Bibtex:

  
@INPROCEEDINGS{Rossi-RSS-18, 
    AUTHOR    = {Federico Rossi AND Ramon Iglesias AND Mahnoosh Alizadeh AND Marco Pavone}, 
    TITLE     = {On the interaction between Autonomous Mobility-on-Demand systems and the power network: models and coordination algorithms}, 
    BOOKTITLE = {Proceedings of Robotics: Science and Systems}, 
    YEAR      = {2018}, 
    ADDRESS   = {Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania}, 
    MONTH     = {June}, 
    DOI       = {10.15607/RSS.2018.XIV.037} 
}