Route planning system and method
A system for selecting a route from a starting location to a predetermined destination includes a vehicle having a battery, a data storage medium, and a processor. The data storage medium stores a map database that describes a road network defining a plurality of possible routes from the starting location to the predetermined destination. The processor is configured to determine whether any of the possible routes belong to a set of routes the vehicle can complete using only the energy in the battery. The processor is configured to select, of the routes belonging to the set, that route having an optimized value for the attribute.
1. A system for selecting a route from a starting location to a predetermined destination, comprising:
a vehicle having a battery;
a storage medium having a map database describing a road network comprising route segments that define a plurality of possible routes from the starting location to the predetermined destination; said route segments being characterized by an attribute and an energy cost; said map database including, for each of the route segments, a respective value for the attribute;
a processor operatively connected to the battery and configured to determine the amount of available energy stored in the battery, and operatively connected to the storage medium and configured to selectively access the map database;
said processor being configured to determine whether any of the possible routes belong to a set of routes from the starting location to the predetermined destination having a total energy cost that is sufficiently low such that the vehicle can complete any one of the routes in the set using only the energy in the battery; and
said processor being configured to select, of the possible routes belonging to the set, that route having an optimal value for the attribute.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the attribute is estimated travel time.
3. The system of claim 2 , further comprising an output device operatively connected to the processor; and wherein the processor is configured to communicate the route having an optimal value for the attribute to the output device.
4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the processor is configured such that, if the set is empty, the processor communicates to the output device which of the possible routes has the lowest energy cost.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle includes a plurality of wheels and a powertrain having an electric motor and an engine;
wherein the electric motor is operatively connected to the battery to receive energy therefrom and operatively connected to at least one of the wheels to transmit torque thereto; and
wherein the engine is operatively connected to at least one of the wheels to selectively transmit energy thereto.
6. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a user-operable input device configured to communicate the predetermined destination to the processor.
7. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a vehicle-location detection device configured to communicate the location of the vehicle to the processor.
8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to determine the energy cost of a route segment from the attribute value of the route segment and characteristics of the vehicle.
9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the map database includes the energy costs of the route segments.
10. A method of determining an optimized route for a vehicle to travel from a starting location to a predetermined destination, the method comprising:
receiving the starting location;
receiving the predetermined destination;
determining the amount of available energy in a battery in the vehicle;
accessing a map database that describes a road network having route segments that define a plurality of possible routes from the starting location to the predetermined destination; said route segments being characterized by an attribute and an energy cost; said map database including, for each of the route segments, a respective value for the attribute;
determining by a processor whether any of the possible routes belong to a set of routes that have a total estimated energy cost that is sufficiently low such that the vehicle can complete any one of the routes in the set using only the energy in the battery; and
of the possible routes belonging to the set, determining that route having an optimized value for the attribute.
11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising communicating the route having an optimized value for the attribute to an output device.
12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising communicating to the output device which of the possible routes has the lowest energy cost if the set is empty.
13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising determining the energy cost of at least one of the route segments from the attribute value of said at least one of the route segments and from characteristics of the vehicle.
14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the map database includes the energy costs of the route segments.