A system for a vehicle includes a powertrain configured to propel the vehicle, and a controller configured to, during a first lap of the vehicle around a track, identify a portion of the track corresponding to a correlation of velocity, throttle position, and steering angle values indicative of a maximum power threshold, and, during a second lap, responsive to approaching the portion, limit power output by the powertrain causing temperature of the powertrain to fall and, upon entering the portion, increase power output to the maximum power threshold causing the temperature to rise, such that a difference in temperature between initiation of the limiting and exiting of the portion approaches zero.

A racing coach device stores a first path of travel along a racetrack over a first time period and a second path of travel along the racetrack over a second time period. The racing coach device identifies, for each of a plurality of geolocations along the racetrack, one of the first path of travel or the second path of travel that is associated with a shorter duration of time over which the user traversed a segment of the path of travel associated with each of the plurality of geolocations. The device determines an optimal path of travel along the racetrack based on the identified first and second path of travel for each segment of the path of travel at each of the plurality of geolocations that results in a calculated lap time to traverse the racetrack that is less than the first time period and the second time period.

A system for limiting performance inconsistences of an electric vehicle during a race or other circumstance when consistent, high performance output is desired, such as by enabling a driver to selectively engage endurance and qualify drive modes to control a supply of electrical power used for driving the electric vehicle.

A method of processing the psychophysical state of a driver to improve the driving experience of road vehicle driven by a driver and comprising the steps of: cyclically detecting one or more objective vital parameters of the driver by means of one or more first sensors installed within a vehicular system; processing the value of a vital state index according to said one or more objective vital parameters detected; cyclically detecting one or more subjective parameters of the driver by means of one or more second sensors installed within the vehicular system; processing, starting from the objective vital parameters and according to the subjective parameters, the psychophysical state of the driver.

Apparatuses, systems, and methods are provided for assisting a driver of a motor vehicle in driving on a predeter-mined racetrack. A sensor system is configured to detect a current position of the motor vehicle on the racetrack and an electronic control unit configured to control an actuator system of the motor vehicle. Predetermined brake point positions of the racetrack are stored in the electronic control unit. A current position of the motor vehicle on the racetrack is continuously detected. A relevant remaining driving time from the current position to a relevant brake point position of the racetrack is determined using the electronic control unit. Corresponding limit values are stored in the electronic control unit for the relevant remaining driving time. When a corresponding limit value is not reached, the control device controls the actuator system of the motor such that the motor generates a signal to the driver.

A method of operating an autonomous racetrack driver coach and demonstrator in an autonomous vehicle employing operating systems for propulsion and maneuvering includes identifying a road course and mapping a velocity profile and a trajectory for the vehicle via a remote configurator. The trajectory defines a vehicle path around the road course and with the velocity profile minimizes the vehicle's lap time. The method also includes determining a presence of a human passenger/operator in the vehicle. The method additionally includes determining, via an electronic controller in communication with a remote detection source, localization of the vehicle on the road course. The method also includes determining vehicle velocity, acceleration, and heading relative to the mapped trajectory. Furthermore, the method includes operating the vehicle, with the human passenger/operator situated therein, to follow the mapped trajectory using feedback control of the operating systems in response to the determined localization, velocity, acceleration, and heading.

In general, the subject matter described in this disclosure can be embodied in methods, systems, and program products for performing vehicle control. A computing system determines a difference between a recent rate of change and a historical rate of change of a rotating vehicle shaft of a vehicle during a vehicle race. The computing system determines that the difference between the recent rate of change of the rotating vehicle shaft and the historical rate of change of the rotating vehicle shaft satisfies a criteria for limiting vehicle power, wherein the computing system changes the criteria for limiting vehicle power during the vehicle race. The computing system sends a signal for receipt by a vehicle component of the vehicle, to cause the vehicle component to limit rotation of the rotating vehicle shaft.

A system and method for optimizing the performance of an autonomous race car in real-time during a race event are disclosed. An autonomous race car controller unit is pre-fed with a first set of initial parameter values and a second set of initial parameter values. A set of sensors is configured for measuring a first and a second set of real-time parameter values after the starting of the race event. A performance optimization module is configured to generate a corrective course by receiving the first and second sets of real-time parameters and detecting the presence of errors between a control command given by the controller unit and its execution.

Methods, systems, and vehicles are provided for mitigating turbulent air for vehicles. In accordance with one embodiment, a vehicle includes one or more downforce elements, one or more sensors, and a processor. The one or more sensors are configured to obtain one or more parameter values for the vehicle during operation of the vehicle. The processor is processor coupled to the one or more sensors, and is configured to at least facilitate determining whether turbulent air for the vehicle is likely using the parameters, and adjusting a downforce for the vehicle, during operation of the vehicle, by providing instructions for controlling the one or more downforce elements when it is determined that turbulent air for the vehicle is likely.

Disclosed is a race car for performing non-powered driving by using gravity and momentary acceleration by using a power unit, the race car comprising: a first power device for supplying power to the race car during momentary acceleration; two one-way clutches connected to the first power device; and two wheels respectively connected to the two one-way clutches, wherein the two one-way clutches can respectively rotate at different speeds, and the power supplied from one first power device is simultaneously received during momentary acceleration through the one-way clutches respectively connected to the two wheels.