# On the Interaction between Autonomous Mobility on Demand Systems and Power Distribution Networks -- An Optimal Power Flow Approach

## TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that coordinated operation of electric autonomous mobility on demand fleets and power distribution networks can greatly reduce overloads and voltage drops, enhancing grid reliability and avoiding costly upgrades.

## Contribution

It extends an optimization-based model to jointly control AMoD fleets and power networks, showing significant improvements through coordination.

## Key findings

- Coordination reduces overloads by 99%.
- Voltage drops are decreased by 50%.
- Coordination helps avoid power grid upgrades.

## Abstract

In future transportation systems, the charging behavior of electric Autonomous Mobility on Demand (AMoD) fleets, i.e., fleets of electric self-driving cars that service on-demand trip requests, will likely challenge power distribution networks (PDNs), causing overloads or voltage drops. In this paper, we show that these challenges can be significantly attenuated if the PDNs' operational constraints and exogenous loads (e.g., from homes or businesses) are accounted for when operating an electric AMoD fleet. We focus on a system-level perspective, assuming full coordination between the AMoD and the PDN operators. From this single entity perspective, we assess potential coordination benefits. Specifically, we extend previous results on an optimization-based modeling approach for electric AMoD systems to jointly control an electric AMoD fleet and a series of PDNs, and analyze the benefit of coordination under load balancing constraints. For a case study of Orange County, CA, we show that the coordination between the electric AMoD fleet and the PDNs eliminates 99% of the overloads and 50% of the voltage drops that the electric AMoD fleet would cause in an uncoordinated setting. Our results show that coordinating electric AMoD and PDNs can help maintain the reliability of PDNs under added electric AMoD charging load, thus significantly mitigating or deferring the need for PDN capacity upgrades.