A powertrain control system for a motor vehicle having a transmission and an engine includes an axle torque controller that determines a desired engine torque and a desired speed ratio from a plurality of inputs, an engine controller that determines a commanded engine torque based on the desired engine torque, wherein the commanded engine torque is used to control the engine to produce an actual engine torque, a transmission controller that determines a commanded gear ratio based on the desired gear ratio, wherein the commanded gear ratio is used to control the transmission to produce an actual gear ratio, and an estimator that determines an actual axle torque of the motor vehicle from the actual engine torque and the actual gear ratio. The plurality of inputs includes a desired axle torque, the actual axle torque, a desired fuel rate, an actual fuel rate.

A method and apparatus for determining an inattentive state of an operator of a vehicle and for providing information to the operator of the vehicle by obtaining face images of the operator of the vehicle, obtaining images of an environment of the vehicle, determining one or more areas of interest in the environment of the vehicle based on the images of the environment, obtaining, from a relevance and priority database, relevance and priority values corresponding to the one or more areas of interest, determining a probability of attention of the operator of the vehicle to the one or more areas of interest based on the images of the environment and the relevance and priority values, determining an attention deficiency based on the determined probability of attention and the face images, and providing the information to the operator of the vehicle based on the determined attention deficiency.

A cruise control system capable of: determining, by a controller, whether the vehicle is in a cruise mode-on state; determining, by the controller, an operation mode of the vehicle selected by a driver; and when it is determined that the vehicle is in the cruise mode-on state, performing, by the controller, cruise control of the vehicle for the operation mode selected by the driver, and a method therefor. Herein, the operation mode includes an eco mode which performs driving control prioritizing fuel consumption reduction.

A driving support apparatus for a hybrid vehicle including an engine and a motor, in which the engine starts running when any one of parameters indicating a state of the hybrid vehicle reaches an engine start threshold set for the parameters, the driving support apparatus includes a current value acquiring section that acquires current values of the parameters, a margin calculation section that calculates margin levels for the current values of the parameters for keeping the engine stopping using the current values of the parameters and the engine start thresholds, and an output section that outputs the smallest margin level of the calculated margin levels.

A method of controlling gear shifting of a hybrid vehicle including an engine, a motor, and a stepped transmission includes predicting a requested torque reduction amount requested by the engine and the motor when there is a request to shift gears of the transmission, determining whether to realize the predicted requested torque reduction amount by reducing motor torque or applying counter torque, as a result of the determining, when it is not possible to realize the predicted requested torque reduction amount, determining an operating point correction amount for increasing an available torque reduction amount of the motor, and determining whether to perform first gear-shifting control in consideration of efficiency of the first gear-shifting control of increasing the motor torque and reducing engine torque by the operating point correction amount before an actual requested torque reduction amount is input.

An electronic control device automatically stops an engine operation when a remaining electric power amount index value is equal to or larger than an engine stop permission threshold. The device automatically restarts the engine operation when the remaining electric power amount index value is smaller than an engine restart threshold after the engine operation is automatically stopped. The device changes the engine stop permission threshold from a first threshold, which has been set until a start of an activation of an electric actuator, to a second threshold, which is larger than the first threshold, when the automatic engine stop is not carried out and the activation of the actuator is detected.

A method manages energy of a hybrid vehicle. The vehicle includes a heat engine, one or more electric traction motors, a high-voltage traction battery, a low-voltage on-board battery for accessories of the vehicle, a current inverter to transform direct currents into alternating currents for the electric motor, and a reversible current transformer to convert high-voltage current into low-voltage current of the on-board battery and to use a stock of energy available in the low-voltage battery to not draw energy from the high-voltage battery when it has a relatively low level of charge. The method includes determining an operating point of the vehicle involving a minimum fuel consumption in the heat engine by imposing on the electric motor a torque that minimizes a criterion of total fuel consumption by the consumption of the heat engine, power consumed in the traction battery, and power consumed in the on-board battery.

The present disclosure provides an apparatus and method for guiding a driver in coasting of an eco-friendly vehicle at an appropriate timing in a situation where deceleration is needed, which can enable economic driving through energy savings and improve the mileage and fuel efficiency of the vehicle.

A method is provided to control the acceleration of a motor vehicle from a current speed, wherein the motor vehicle includes an accelerator pedal system able to generate on the accelerator pedal an added reaction force when the depression of the accelerator pedal reaches a given depression level. The method includes the steps of: a) measuring the current vehicle speed; b) determining a target speed of the motor vehicle in function at least of the current vehicle speed or determining from the current vehicle speed a maximum acceleration rate; c) determining at least one threshold depression level of the accelerator pedal that corresponds to the stabilization of the vehicle speed at the target speed or that corresponds to maximum acceleration rate; d) generating an added reaction force on the accelerator pedal if the depression of the accelerator pedal reaches or is about to reach the threshold depression level; wherein at least steps a), b), and c) are automatically repeated as vehicle speed increases.

A method of controlling electrically-powered vehicle accessories includes receiving energy data, the energy data providing an indication of an availability of free energy; receiving an electrically-powered vehicle accessory classification for an electrically-powered vehicle accessory, the classification including one of a critical and a discretionary electrically-powered vehicle accessory; receiving a prioritization for the electrically-powered vehicle accessory based on the classification and whether the electrically-powered vehicle accessory has an energy storage component; and providing a command to control energy consumption by the electrically-powered vehicle accessory based on its prioritization and the availability of free energy.