A method for controlling a vehicle includes automatically controlling vehicle brakes to decelerate the vehicle at a braking deceleration rate in response to an anticipated stop at a traffic signal and an adaptive cruise control system being active. The method further includes, in response to the vehicle decelerating to an intermediate speed, releasing the vehicle brakes. The intermediate speed is determined such that, at the intermediate speed, a coasting distance to a full stop is approximately equal to a distance to the traffic signal.

Some embodiments of the present invention comprise a method of controlling a powertrain of a vehicle, the powertrain comprising drive torque means, a transmission and a driveline, the drive torque means comprising an internal combustion engine, the method comprising: detecting that coasting entry criteria have been met; causing the powertrain to assume a first coasting mode for a first time period in which the drive torque means delivers positive drive torque to the driveline to substantially balance powertrain losses; determining a value for at least one parameter, the or each parameter being indicative of: a probability that a demand will be made for torque to be delivered to the driveline in addition to torque delivered to substantially balance powertrain losses; or a probability that a demand will be made for braking of the vehicle; and setting the value of the first time period in dependence on the value of the or each parameter.

An end point speed at an end point of inertial travel that a vehicle is controlled to perform in a short section l.sub.i is calculated using a weight, a start point speed, slopes, and a horizontal distance, based on a change in energy of the vehicle or an acceleration of the vehicle in the short section. In a case where the calculated end point speed is within a speed range, the vehicle is controlled to perform inertial travel in the short section. In this way, the speed of the vehicle in a case where the vehicle is controlled to perform inertial travel can be accurately calculated and the vehicle can be prevented from deviating from a set speed range at an early stage even when controlled to perform inertial travel, thereby increasing the distance traveled by inertial travel and effectively increasing fuel economy.

A control device that controls a vehicle drive transfer device in which a speed change device that includes a plurality of engagement devices and that selectively establishes one of a plurality of shift speeds with different speed ratios in accordance with a state of engagement of the plurality of engagement devices is provided in a power transfer path that connects between a drive force source and wheels.

An apparatus and a method for controlling a transmission of a vehicle may include a determining device configured to determine whether to perform a front-vehicle-based deceleration following control based on information on the vehicle and information on the front vehicle when coasting of the vehicle is started, a calculating device configured to determine a target speed of the vehicle and a target distance based on a position, a speed, and a moving distance of the front vehicle, when the front-vehicle-based deceleration following control is determined to be performed, a gearshifting stage deciding device configured to decide a final gearshifting stage of the transmission based on the determined target speed and the target distance by configuring a deceleration profile for each gearshifting stage of the transmission, and a controller to control the transmission based on the final gearshifting stage.

A vehicle control apparatus for controlling a vehicle including an engine, a motor generator, a manual transmission, a clutch, an accelerator pedal, a clutch pedal, a brake pedal, a shift lever, and a control unit that performs inertia travel control to cause a vehicle to start inertia travel when a predetermined condition is satisfied during travel of the vehicle, performs free-run transition control to change to a free-run travel when a predetermined inertia travel time has elapsed since the start of the inertia travel, and sets the inertia travel time in a case where the last operation before the inertia travel is one of predetermined operation to be longer than the inertia travel time in a case where the last operation before the inertia travel is an operation in which the return speed of the accelerator pedal is greater than or equal to a predetermined return speed.

Provided is a control apparatus of a vehicle, which includes a transmission mode switching control program for controlling the automatic transmission to switch between an automatic transmission mode and a manual transmission mode, a coast idle stop control program for performing a coast idle stop control in which the engine is stopped automatically and the automatic transmission is changed into a neutral position while the vehicle is traveling, and a coast idle control program for performing a coast idle control in which the engine is made running idle and the automatic transmission is changed into the neutral position while the vehicle is traveling.

A pedally propelled vehicle multi speed gear system includes a gear mechanism including a main shaft; a hollow first shaft and a hollow second shaft, both axially stationary and rotatably arranged about the main shaft; an epicyclical first gear section arranged about the main shaft between the first and second shafts, and including two radially stacked carrier elements; and a first shift mechanism arranged between the first shaft and the first gear section, and configured to rotationally engage the first shaft with either of the two radially stacked carriers. The first shift mechanism includes two first clutches radially stacked about the main shaft.

A method and apparatus for evaluating the driving of a vehicle performing a journey on a road network is disclosed. The method comprises determining a fuel usage rate and an engine speed of a vehicle, and determining when the vehicle is coasting based upon at least one of the fuel usage rate and the engine speed of the vehicle. An acceleration of the vehicle, when the vehicle is determined to be coasting, is compared with a predetermined reference acceleration, and an application of braking during the coasting is determined based on the result of the comparison. A method and apparatus is also disclosed for determining a score indicative of the relative amount of time for which the vehicle is coasting without braking during a journey.

A running control device has an engine coupling running mode enabling an engine brake running mode performed by coupling an engine and wheels with an engine brake applied by driven rotation of the engine, and an inertia running mode performed with an engine brake force lower than that of the engine brake running mode. The running control device includes a steering wheel steering angle as a condition of terminating the inertia running mode. The running control device performs a first inertia running mode with the rotation of the engine stopped and a second inertia running mode with the engine rotating. The first inertia running mode is terminated when the steering angle becomes equal to or greater than a predefined first determination value. The second inertia running mode is terminated when the steering angle becomes equal to or greater than a predefined second determination value larger than the first determination value.