New Paradigm for Urban Vehicle Technologies

在世界各地的大城市，交通拥堵是一个日益严重的问题，随着人口的增加，交通拥堵将继续恶化。到2050年，全球道路上的车辆数量预计将翻两番，达到近30亿辆，而市中心的道路数量预计将大致保持不变。每辆车的平均乘员人数约为1.6人；现有车辆的空间严重未得到充分利用。*为了缓解大城市的交通拥堵和相关污染，电动城市汽车的普及正在形成势头。电动城市车辆的优势在一定程度上是因为它们的多功能性；除了四轮配置外，这些车辆还可以采用三轮配置，一个轮子在前部或后部。车辆还可以有前轮、后轮或全轮转向。在一些司法管辖区，狭窄的城市车辆能够分割车道，在自行车道上行驶，并在非常规空间停车。城市车辆在缓解交通拥堵和缓解停车短缺方面具有巨大的潜力。目前的城市车辆基本上是乘用车的缩小版。这种缩小的方法对车辆的安全性、可用性、油耗、热负荷、电源管理以及随后的客户接受度施加了严重的限制。例如，与传统乘用车一样，现有的城市车辆设计为车轮外部的悬架和动力总成，主要通过悬置和机械连接连接。因此，机械部件及其连接仍然需要大量的容量，否则可以用于增加乘客空间。通过将悬挂和动力总成集成到车轮中，并用x-by-wire系统取代机械连接，可以显著减少城市车辆的空间和重量。考虑到这种设计方法，大多数城市车辆经常不充分的内部空间可以显著增加。此外，这种设计消除了许多动力总成部件，在降低车辆质量的同时，在空气动力学车身造型方面提供了更大的灵活性，所有这些都极大地提高了能源效率。*拟议的Discovery计划的主要目标是为城市车辆技术开发一种新的范例，以便能够在非常省时的过程中设计出高度省油、更安全和成本效益高的城市车辆。

Traffic congestion is a growing problem in large cities around the world and will continue to worsen as populations increase. The number of vehicles on the road worldwide is expected to quadruple to nearly 3 billion by 2050, while the number of roadways is expected to remain approximately the same in city cores. The average number of occupants of a single vehicle is about 1.6 persons; the space of current vehicles is highly underutilized.******To alleviate traffic congestion and associated pollution in large cities, the prevalence of electric urban vehicles are gaining momentum. The advantages of electric urban vehicles are in part due to their versatility; in addition to four-wheel configuration, these vehicles could host a three-wheel configuration with one wheel in the front or rear. The vehicles could also have front, rear, or all wheel steering. In some jurisdictions, narrow urban vehicles are able to lane-split, travel on bike lanes, and park in unconventional spaces. Urban vehicles have a huge potential to relieve traffic congestion and alleviate parking shortages.******Urban vehicles in their current form are essentially scaled down versions of passenger cars. This scaled down approach imposes serious limitations on the safety, usability, fuel consumption, thermal loads, power management, and subsequently, customer acceptance of the vehicle. For example, as in conventional passenger cars, existing urban vehicles are designed with the suspension and powertrain external to the wheels that are connected primarily through mounts and mechanical linkages. Therefore, a significant volume is still needed for mechanical components and their connections, which could otherwise be used for added passenger space. It is possible to significantly reduce the space and weight of urban vehicles by integrating the suspension and powertrain into the wheels, and by replacing mechanical linkages with x-by-wire systems. Considering this design approach, the often inadequate interior space of most urban vehicles can be significantly increased. Moreover, this design eliminates many powertrain components and provides more flexibility in aerodynamic body shaping while lowering vehicle mass, all leading to vastly improved energy efficiency.******The primary goal of the proposed Discovery program is to develop a new paradigm for urban vehicle technologies to allow the design of highly fuel efficient, safer, and cost effective urban vehicles in a very time efficient process.