Development of Simulated Driving Cycles: Case Study of Waterfront Area in Toronto, Canada

Driving cycles are an important input for state-of-the-art vehicle emission models. Development of a driving cycle requires second-by-second vehicle speed for a representative set of vehicles. Current practice is to use standard driving cycles, like the Environmental Protection Agency's Highway Fuel Economy Driving Schedule (HWFET) or Supplemental Federal Test Procedure (SFTP)-US06, however, these driving cycles reflect small samples of vehicles, do not reflect varying conditions by time of day, by vehicle type and cannot reflect or forecast changes in traffic conditions. This paper introduces a method to develop representative driving cycles using simulated data from a calibrated microscopic traffic simulation model in the Toronto Waterfront Area. The simulation method addresses some of the limitations with standard driving cycles. The simulation model is calibrated to reflect road counts, link speeds, and accelerations using a multi-objective genetic algorithm. The simulation is validated by comparing simulated vs. observed passenger car freeway cycles. The simulation method is applied to develop AM peak hour freeway driving cycles for light, medium and heavy duty trucks. The demonstration reveals differences in speed, acceleration, and driver aggressiveness between driving cycles for different vehicle types. These driving cycles are compared against a range of available driving cycles, showing different traffic conditions and driving behaviors, and suggesting a need for city-specific driving cycles. Emissions from the simulated driving cycles are also compared with HWFET showing higher emission factors for the Toronto Waterfront freeway cycles.