An automatic torque control system and methods for automatically controlling a torque of a vehicle are disclosed. The method includes detecting when the vehicle engages a load. The method further includes automatically decreasing the torque when the vehicle engages the load and prior to one or more wheels of the vehicle slipping.

A vehicle control system may be provided for controlling adhesion of wheels to a route surface. The control system includes one or more processors configured to determine adhesion values representative of adhesion between the wheels of a vehicle and the route surface based on angular speeds of the wheels. An artificial intelligence neural network may generate a target slip value for the wheels that are coupled with at least two different axles of the vehicle by processing the adhesion values and modifying the target slip value to increase an average value of the adhesion values of the wheels. The one or more processors may control a torque applied to at least one of the axles based on the target slip value.

Method and apparatus are disclosed for traction control based on friction coefficient estimation. An example vehicle includes a plurality of sensors to measure qualities of a surface of a road and an anti-lock brake system module. The anti-lock brake system module (a) estimates confidence values for different road surface types based on the qualities of the surface of the road, (b) estimates a coefficient of friction between the road and tires of the vehicle based on the confidence values, and (c) adapt a traction control system by altering a target slip based on the coefficient of friction.

A vehicle for traversing an area with a minimal environmental impact is described. The vehicle includes a first component that creates a first environmental impact when the vehicle is traversing in the area. The vehicle further includes a second component configured to reduce the first environmental impact.

A vehicle control apparatus is provided with: a recognizer configured to recognize a surrounding situation of a host vehicle; a controller programmed to perform a deceleration control when a deceleration target is recognized by the recognizer; and a detector configured to detect a slip of the host vehicle. The controller sets a first controlled variable, which is a controlled variable associated with the deceleration control when the slip of the host vehicle is detected without execution of the deceleration control, so as to suppress an extent of deceleration of the host vehicle, in comparison with a second controlled variable, which is the controlled variable when the slip of the host vehicle is not detected without execution of the deceleration control.

A controller may be configured to receive one or more measured rotational speeds of a wheel of a vehicle. The controller may be configured to determine whether the one or more measured rotational speeds are unreliable relative to one or more previous rotational speeds of the wheel of the vehicle. The controller may be configured to calculate a replacement rotational speed of the wheel and use the replacement rotational speed of the wheel to control or restrict movement of the vehicle using or based on the replacement rotational speed in place of the one or more measured rotational speeds.

Systems and methods of using a common control scheme to autonomously controlling a vehicle during semi-autonomous and fully autonomous driving modes are provided. In particular, embodiments of the presently disclosed technology incorporate reference tracking for driving input and vehicle state into this common control scheme. In some embodiments, this common control scheme may be implemented using Model Predictive Control (MPC).

A method for adaptive estimation of a road surface adhesion coefficient for a vehicle with complex excitation conditions taken into consideration comprises the following steps: 1) designing an estimator according to a single-wheel dynamics model of a vehicle, and estimating a longitudinal tire force and a road surface peak adhesion coefficient under longitudinal excitation; 2) designing an estimator according to a two-degree-of-freedom kinematic model of the vehicle, and estimating a tire aligning moment and a road surface peak adhesion coefficient under excitation of a lateral force; and 3) determining an excitation condition met by the vehicle according to a vehicle state parameter, performing fuzzy inference to obtain limits achievable by current longitudinal and lateral tire forces, and designing a fusion observer to fuse estimation results. The method achieves favorable robustness, improves real-time capability, and can be performed quickly and accurately.

The technology employs a model structure for motion control in a vehicle configured to operate in an autonomous driving mode. The model structure has components including a vehicle dynamics system module, a column dynamics module, a rack dynamics module, and an actuation control module. A virtual validation and verification model is configurable based on the components of the model structure. Configuration is performed according to a set of operational requirements based on at least one of a vehicle type, occupant loading information, a center of gravity, or tire pressure as per a cold nominal setpoint. The virtual validation and verification model can be executed so that an electric power steering (EPS) module of the model structure components is configured for at least one of: a software-in-loop model, functional EPS assist, angle control, or to emulate an EPS controller.

A control system for a vehicle includes wheel slip control loop including a wheel slip controller configured to control wheel slip based on wheel speed measured at one or more wheels of the vehicle. A wheel flare control loop includes a wheel flare controller configured to control wheel flare based on transmission output speed at an output of a transmission of the vehicle. A controller is configured to select one of the wheel slip controller to control the wheel slip and the wheel flare controller to control the wheel flare during operation of the vehicle.