A method in which the position of the center of gravity of a moving motor vehicle is ascertained, wherein at least one set of related input variables is taken into consideration, and the set of input variables includes at least a longitudinal acceleration of the motor vehicle, a lateral acceleration of the motor vehicle, a yaw rate of the motor vehicle and at least one wheel rotational speed, in particular four wheel rotational speeds, wherein the set of input variables is ascertained during a steady-state driving maneuver, and a quantity of possible center of gravity positions is defined as classes and, by a learning-based classification method, on the basis of the set of input variables, a class is selected which indicates an estimated center of gravity position. A control unit for carrying out the method is also disclosed.

A driving information generating section 20 successively generates as driving information diverse types of information indicative of a driving state of a vehicle. A dangerous driving determining section 31 determines whether dangerous driving is underway on the basis of the driving information generated by the driving information generating section 20. A supplementary information acquiring section 32 acquires state supplementary information manually or automatically upon determination of dangerous driving by the dangerous driving determining section 31, and associates the acquired state supplementary information with the result of the determination of dangerous driving. An information communication section 34 transmits the result of the determination of dangerous driving and the state supplementary information to an information management apparatus 40. The information management apparatus 40 can recognize the state of the case in which dangerous driving is underway based on the state supplementary information, and correctly determine validity of the result of the determination of dangerous driving.

A control device of a vehicle includes a power transmission device transmitting a power of a power source to drive wheels, the control device comprises: a drive force limiting portion limiting a drive force of the vehicle by an upper limit value when the vehicle is running on a wavy road and a value representing a variation in a predetermined rotation speed of a drive system component disposed between the power source to the drive wheels is equal to or greater than a resonance determination value; an upper limit value setting portion setting the upper limit value to a value corresponding to the wavy road on which the vehicle is currently running, based on current position information indicative of a current position of the vehicle.

The invention relates to a device for determining the driving behavior of a driver, the device comprising at least means for receiving data from two or more data sources, of which at least one produces data relating to changes in the state of motion of a vehicle and at least one other produces measured data on the well-being of the driver; means for scoring the received data by comparing it with data-specific reference values; means for forming a respective sub-index from each scored item of data; means for determining a driving behavior index on the basis of the formed sub-indices; and means for controlling control equipment of the vehicle on the basis of the driving behavior index and/or for storing the driving behavior index in a database.

A torque upper limit value changing section increases an upper limit value of a torque instruction value in a powering range in case a rotational speed reduction degree is greater than a reference value and decreases the upper limit value of the torque instruction value in the powering range in case the rotational speed reduction degree is smaller than the reference value.

Motorcycles can become unstable when operating at high speeds and at high cornering levels. For example, they can exhibit an oscillation at the rear wheel commonly known as “weave.” A system and method is provided which utilizes a high-fidelity computer simulation model of a 2- or 3-wheel motorcycle to predict operating states such as yaw rate, lateral acceleration and roll angle for a stable motorcycle at a given speed and steer angle. The operating state of a physical motorcycle can be measured and compared to that of the model at every instant in time to determine if the operating state of the physical motorcycle differs from that of the simulation model in such a way as to indicate loss of stability. The nature of that difference can then be used to intervene in the operation of the motorcycle independent of driver actions by application of brakes, modulating the engine torque or applying torques to urge the steering system in a corrective direction. Thus by comparing the physical response of the motorcycle to that of the computer model in an on-board controller these interventions can be applied at a time and intensity to stabilize the motorcycle and prevent a loss of control.

A road surface condition is determined appropriately. A road surface determining section (84) configured to determine a road surface condition with reference to a wheel speed signal indicative of wheel speeds includes a band-stop filter (841) which acts on the wheel speed signal and has a cutoff frequency band which is changed in accordance with the wheel speed signal.

A control device for a regenerative braking system having control electronics, the control electronics being designed, in consideration of at least one provided first variable with respect to a utilized coefficient of friction occurring in each case at the at least one wheel which may be regeneratively braked, to determine at least one preset variable with respect to at least one hydraulic minimum braking torque to be exerted on the at least one wheel which may be regeneratively braked, and, in consideration of at least the at least one determined preset variable, to determine the at least one setpoint variable.

A method for operating a vehicle is disclosed. The vehicle has at least one torque transmission device which when rotating splashes in a fluid, at least two axles each having at least two wheels and at least one controllable coupling device adapted for selectively coupling or decoupling the torque transmission device with at least one of the wheels. The method includes the steps of: in an operating state in which no torque is requested by a driver of the vehicle, decoupling with the control device the torque transmission device and the at least one wheel when a driving speed of the vehicle is greater than or equal to a predetermined speed threshold value and coupling with the control device the torque transmission device and the at least one wheel for torque transmission when the driving speed is smaller than the predetermined speed threshold value.

The present invention makes it possible to appropriately grasp a stop cause when a vehicle stops. An ECU 5, which controls a vehicle including wheels and a vehicle body connected to the wheels includes: a wheel stop detection unit 138 that detects a stop of the wheels; a vehicle body stop detection unit 133 that detects a stop of the vehicle body; and a stop cause determination unit 141 that determines a stop cause of the vehicle based on a stop timing of the wheels detected by the wheel stop detection unit 138 and a stop timing of the vehicle body detected by the vehicle body stop detection unit 133. The stop cause determination unit 141 may determine that the stop cause is contact of the vehicle body with an obstacle when the stop timing of the vehicle body is earlier than the stop timing of the wheels.