Making vehicles ever more energy-efficient has been and continues to be a focal point of automotive design. Energy efficient vehicles consume less of the earth's non-renewable hydrocarbon resources, and are also less expensive to operate than vehicles that are not energy efficient.
In addition to the above considerations, energy efficiency is likely to grow in importance in the future. In particular, many future vehicles are likely to be propelled not by internal combustion, but by electric propulsion systems that presently have, and at least into the near future will have, comparatively low energy capacities compared to conventional internal combustion systems. Further, many future vehicles might possibly incorporate a hybrid form of electric propulsion and internal combustion. In any case, the conservation of the vehicles' onboard energy supply will be crucial to convenient operation of the vehicles.
As recognized by the present invention, advances in energy conservation can be realized not only by improving the design of the vehicles and their propulsion systems, but also by intelligently operating the vehicles, apart from any particular vehicle design. More specifically, the present invention recognizes that it is usually the case that more than one route exists between a vehicle origin and a desired destination, and that energy conservation can be enhanced by selecting the most energy efficient route. For example, two routes might exist that connect an origin and a destination, but one route might not be as direct and hence would be longer (and, thus, require higher energy consumption) than the other route. Or, two routes of approximately equal length might exist between two points, but the topography of one route might be relatively rough, whereas the topography of another route might be relatively flat and consequently require less energy to negotiate than the rougher route.
With the above considerations in mind, the present invention further recognizes that modern computers, coupled to newly-compiled topographical map databases and to global positioning satellite (GPS) systems, can be used to select and present energy-efficient routes between operator selected origins and destinations. Still further, as recognized herein the energy consumption characteristics of a vehicle can depend on the manner in which the vehicle is operated by its driver, and on peculiarities of the vehicle itself. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to account for a vehicle's particular energy consumption characteristics, on an individual vehicle basis.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system for determining an optimum route between an origin and a destination that accounts for topographical variations among routes. Another object of the present invention is to provide a system for determining an optimum route between an origin and a destination that receives precise current vehicle position from a GPS system. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a system for determining an optimum route for a vehicle which accounts for the way in which a particular driver operates the vehicle, and for the particular energy consumption characteristics of the vehicle. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a system for determining an optimum route that is easy to use and cost-effective.