A vehicle control device controls operation of a vehicle provided with a transmission having a direct gear and normal gears including an overdrive gear having a lower gear ratio than the direct gear. The device includes a travel segment determination unit which determines a forward travel segment having a different road slope from a current travel segment, a current gear position selection unit that selects a current gear position in accordance with a shift pattern, a forward gear position selection unit that selects a forward gear position based on a travel resistance of the vehicle in the forward travel segment, and a shift control unit that maintains a gear position as the direct gear while the vehicle travels in the forward travel segment, when a gear position of the transmission in the current travel segment is the overdrive gear and the forward gear position is the direct gear.

A vehicle control device controls a vehicle provided with a transmission having a direct gear and normal gears including an overdrive gear having a lower gear ratio than the direct gear. The device includes a travel segment determination unit which determines a forward travel segment having a different road slope from a current travel segment, a current gear position selection unit that selects a current gear position based on a travel resistance of the vehicle, a forward gear position selection unit that selects a forward gear position based on a travel resistance in the forward travel segment, and a shift control unit that selects whether or not to upshift the transmission based on a situation until the vehicle reaches the forward travel segment, when an upshift to the overdrive gear is newly selected in a case where the current gear position and the forward gear position are the direct gear.

A vehicle control device including: a road gradient acquisition unit configured to acquire a road gradient of a road on which a vehicle is currently traveling; a travel section determination unit configured to determine a forward travel section that is a travel section having a different road gradient from a current travel section in which the vehicle is currently traveling and that is ahead in a travel direction of the vehicle; and a horsepower limitation unit configured to limit an output horsepower of an engine based on a travel resistance of the vehicle, in which the horsepower limitation unit is configured to release the output horsepower limitation of the engine in a case where the travel resistance in the forward travel section is greater than the travel resistance of the vehicle in the current travel section.

A transmission control apparatus for a vehicle includes: a speed prediction device that predicts speeds for each gear stage from a current position of the vehicle to a position of a speed camera based on a driving state of the vehicle when it is identified that the speed camera exists on a road ahead while an operation of an accelerator pedal is in an OFF state; and a controller that determines a transmission gear stage based on the predicted speeds for each gear stage and performs a transmission control operation of the vehicle based on the determined transmission gear stage.

A transmission control apparatus for a vehicle includes: a speed prediction device that predicts speeds for each gear stage from a current position of the vehicle to a position of a speed camera based on a driving state of the vehicle when it is identified that the speed camera exists on a road ahead while an operation of an accelerator pedal is in an OFF state; and a controller that determines a transmission gear stage based on the predicted speeds for each gear stage and performs a transmission control operation of the vehicle based on the determined transmission gear stage.

A transmission control apparatus may include a determination device that determines a predicted running load on a predetermined section of a road ahead of the vehicle by use of information regarding a grade and a curvature of the predetermined section of the road ahead of the vehicle and determines fuel consumptions for respective gears, based on the predicted running load, a determination device that determines a final gear, based on the determined fuel consumptions for respective gears, and a controller that performs gear shift control for the vehicle, based on the final gear.

In this vehicle control device (10), which controls operation of a vehicle provided with a transmission including a direct gear and an overdrive gear, which is a gear with a lower gear ratio than that of the direct gear, a travel segment determination unit (15) determines a next travel segment which, forward in the travel direction of the vehicle, has a road slope different from that of the current travel segment where the vehicle is currently traveling. A next gear stage selection unit (16) determines a next gear stage, which will be the gear stage of a transmission in the next travel segment, on the basis of the speed of the vehicle, an equal fuel consumption map of the engine of the vehicle, and the travel resistance of the vehicle in the next travel segment estimated on the basis of the road slope in the next travel segment. The next gear stage selection unit (16) selects the next gear stage referring to different equal fuel consumption maps depending on whether the gear stage of the transmission is the direct gear or whether the gear stage of the transmission is a normal gear.

A shift control device for a vehicle, includes: a minimum vehicle speed calculator that, when it is determined that a vehicle on traveling needs to decelerate before the vehicle arrives at a forward predetermined point, calculates a minimum vehicle speed using the periphery information; a shift position determination unit that determines a target shift position; and a downshift controller that, when the minimum vehicle speed is calculated, commences a downshift from a current shift position to the target shift position. Further, the downshift controller implements first control of performing multiple downshifts from the current shift position to the target shift position such that shift timing is provided at regular intervals, or second control of performing multiple downshifts such that rotational speeds of the engine after the respective downshifts become equal to each other.

Systems and methods for managing shift changes of a multi-speed automatic transmission of a vehicle are provided. The multi-speed automatic transmission being capable of establishing a plurality of forward speed ratios. The vehicle may include a transmission shift selector having at least one operator selectable shift request input to request a shift change of the multi-speed automatic transmission. A control circuit operatively coupled to the multi-speed automatic transmission is provided which shifts the multi-speed automatic transmission from a first forward speed ratio to a second forward speed ratio in response to shift criteria. The shift criteria may be based on a plurality of operational characteristics related to the vehicle.

Systems and methods for managing shift changes of a multi-speed automatic transmission of a vehicle are provided. The multi-speed automatic transmission being capable of establishing a plurality of forward speed ratios. The vehicle may include a transmission shift selector having at least one operator selectable shift request input to request a shift change of the multi-speed automatic transmission. A control circuit operatively coupled to the multi-speed automatic transmission is provided which shifts the multi-speed automatic transmission from a first forward speed ratio to a second forward speed ratio in response to shift criteria. The shift criteria may be based on a plurality of operational characteristics related to the vehicle.