Developing a Regional Drive Cycle Using GPS-Based Trajectory Data from Rideshare Passenger Cars: A Case of Chengdu, China

A drive cycle describes the microscopic and macroscopic vehicle activity information that is crucial for emission quantification research, e.g., emission modeling or emission testing. Well-developed drive cycles capture the driving patterns representing the traffic conditions of the study area, which usually are employed as the input of the emission models. By considering the potential of large-scale GPS trajectory data collected by ubiquitous on-vehicle tracking equipment, the objective of this study is to demonstrate the capability of GPS-based trajectory data from rideshare passenger cars for urban drive cycle development. Large-scale GPS trajectory data and order data collected by an app-based transportation vehicle was used in this study. GPS data were filtered by thresholds of instantaneous accelerations and vehicle specific powers. The micro-trip selection-to-rebuild method with operating mode distribution was used to develop a series of speed-bin categorized representative drive cycles. Sensitivity of the time-of-day and day-of-week were analyzed on the developed drive cycles. The representativeness of the developed drive cycles was verified and significant differences exist when they are compared to the default light-duty drive cycles coded in MOVES. The findings of this study can be used for helping drive cycle development and emission modeling, further improving the understanding of localized emission levels.