Lab photo of Jing Sun

NAME Chair, Jing Sun, awarded $1.5M grant for NEXTCAR automated vehicle project

EXPERTS: Jing Sun has been awarded a $1.5M grant from ARPA-E’s NEXTCAR program for her project, Integrated Power and Thermal Management for Connected and Automated Vehicles Through Real-Time Adaption and Optimization. Jing Sun has been awarded a $1.5M grant from ARPA-E’s NEXTCAR program for her project, “Integrated Power and Thermal Management for Connected and Automated…

Lab photo of Jing Sun
Jing Sun, Michael G Parsons Collegiate Professor and Chair of the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, the group’s research results with Richard Choroszucha,, NAME Research Assistant.

Jing Sun has been awarded a $1.5M grant from ARPA-E’s NEXTCAR program for her project, Integrated Power and Thermal Management for Connected and Automated Vehicles Through Real-Time Adaption and Optimization.

Jing Sun has been awarded a $1.5M grant from ARPA-E’s NEXTCAR program for her project, “Integrated Power and Thermal Management for Connected and Automated Vehicles (IPTM-CAV) Through Real-Time Adaption and Optimization.” The projects that make up ARPA-E’s NEXTCAR Program, short for “NEXT-Generation Energy Technologies for Connected and Automated On-Road Vehicles,” are enabling technologies that use connectivity and automation to co-optimize vehicle dynamic controls and powertrain operation, thereby reducing the energy consumption of light-, medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. By using onboard sensing and external connectivity such as Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V), Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) and Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communications, NEXTCAR technologies will allow a vehicle to “know” with some certainty its future actions in its operating environment.

The University of Michigan team will develop four technological solutions for their project that include managing and optimizing propulsion power and auxiliary thermal load, predictive thermal management of electrified connected and automated vehicles, optimizing powertrain and exhaust after treatment systems by anticipating future conditions, and integrating powertrain and vehicle thermal management systems. The proposed strategies are applicable for a range of vehicles powered by internal combustion engines, hybrid-electric, plug-in hybrid, and all-electric powertrains.


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