A method and a system for controlling wheel torques of a vehicle (201) to provide a desired vehicle yaw torque during a cornering event. A set of indirect yaw torque parameters (a,k) indicative of the indirect vehicle yaw torque contribution from lateral wheel forces are determined based on the present wheel torque data (PtTq) and the lateral acceleration data (LatAcc) and a model. A required torque for the front axis wheels (202, 204) and a required torque for the rear axis wheels (206, 208) are calculated such that the desired longitudinal wheel torque and the target vehicle yaw (M.sub.zReq) provided, taking into account the set of indirect yaw torque parameters. The calculated torques are applied to the respective individual wheels.

A fuel-saving control device equipped with: a surplus drive force calculation unit for calculating surplus drive force; a fuel-saving control unit for executing a fuel-saving control which lowers and corrects the indicated fuel injection amount according to the accelerator position when the surplus drive force reaches or exceeds a threshold, and stopping the fuel-saving control when the surplus drive force falls below the threshold; a vehicle position detection unit for detecting the vehicle position; a map information storage unit for storing map information; a downshift operation detection unit for detecting a downshifting operation; and a forward gradient identification unit for identifying the forward gradient on the basis of the vehicle position and the map information. Therein, the fuel-saving control unit stops the fuel-saving control when a downshifting operation is detected and the forward gradient is an uphill grade equal to or greater than a threshold.

Longitudinal acceleration, intended travel angle, wheel speed, and requested drive torque signals are measured for a vehicle. The longitudinal acceleration, intended travel angle, wheel speed, and requested drive torque signals are then evaluated. A brake torque is calculated as a function of a propulsive torque, wherein the propulsive torque is produced by a power source for the vehicle. The brake torque is applied when the longitudinal acceleration signal exceeds a longitudinal acceleration threshold, the intended travel angle signal is between intended travel angle limits, the wheel speed signal is less than a minimum speed threshold, the requested drive torque signal exceeds a requested drive torque threshold, and a torque threshold is exceeded.

A method for determining a state of a roadway of a vehicle. A first distance value of a measurement coordinate to a first tire characteristic curve associated with a first state of the roadway is ascertained. A second distance value of the measurement coordinate to a second tire characteristic curve associated with a second state of the roadway is ascertained. The measurement coordinate represents a measurement carried out using at least one vehicle sensor of a presently utilized traction between wheels of the vehicle and the roadway and a wheel slip of the wheels, while the first tire characteristic curve and the second tire characteristic curve are based on a model function for the modeled representation of the traction as a function of the wheel slip. An output signal representing the state of the roadway is output using the first distance value and the second distance value.

A vehicle control device controls a vehicle including a first driving device and a second driving device having a maximum driving force that is smaller than a maximum driving force of the first driving device. The vehicle control device includes a control unit configured to, in a state where the vehicle is driven by a second driving force, if a determination unit determines that there is a step on the route of the vehicle, drive the vehicle by at least a first driving force.

A method for controlling a wheel slip of a vehicle is provided. The method includes estimating equivalent inertia information of a driving system based on operation information of the driving system during operation of a vehicle and subsequently, calculating the amount of calibration for calibrating a torque command of a driving device for driving the vehicle from the estimated equivalent inertia information of the driving system. The torque command of the driving device is calibrated using the calculated amount of calibration and subsequently the torque applied to a driving wheel is adjusted according to the calibrated torque command.

A method of controlling posture of a vehicle is provided to determine a minute tendency of understeer or oversteer of the vehicle and to control the posture of the vehicle when recognizing the minute tendency of the understeer or oversteer while driving the vehicle straight. The includes determining whether torque is applied to drive wheels while driving the vehicle and acquiring equivalent inertia information of a drive system in real time based on drive system operation information in response to determining that the torque is being applied to the drive wheels. The understeer or oversteer of the vehicle is determined from the equivalent inertia information obtained in real-time.

A device for a towing vehicle that includes: a drive unit that independently drives each of left and right wheels of a towing vehicle that tows a towed vehicle; an acceleration detection unit that detects an acceleration of the towing vehicle; a drive force detection unit that detects a drive force of the towing vehicle; a mass estimation unit that estimates a mass of the towed vehicle using respective detection results generated by the acceleration detection unit and the drive force detection unit at a time of acceleration of the towing vehicle in a towing state; and a control unit that controls a drive force of the left and right wheels of the towing vehicle in consideration of an influence of the mass of the towed vehicle estimated by the mass estimation unit at a time of turning of the towing vehicle in the towing state.

A control apparatus for a four-wheel-drive vehicle is configured to, during braking of the vehicle in a two-wheel-drive state, determine whether or not a degree of a yaw movement for deflecting the vehicle is larger than a predetermined first degree. When the degree of the yaw movement is larger than the first degree, the control apparatus increases a first coupling torque of a first coupling device and a second coupling torque of a second coupling device to a predetermined first torque value which is larger than zero, and controls a ground contact load adjusting device in such a manner that a first ground contact load at a rear wheel at an outer side with respect to the yaw movement becomes larger than a second ground contact load at a rear wheel at an inner side with respect to the yaw movement by a predetermined first load difference or more.

A vehicle includes controller programmed to receive a driver-demanded wheel torque command and calculate a shaped wheel torque command based on the driver-demanded wheel torque command. The controller is further programmed to, in response to the driver-demanded wheel torque command changing from a first magnitude that is greater than an estimated wheel torque at a last time step to a second magnitude that is less than the estimated wheel torque at a current time step, set the shaped wheel torque to a minimum of a magnitude of the shaped wheel torque at the last time step and an estimated wheel torque at the current time step. The controller is also programmed to command the first and second actuators to produce the shaped wheel torque.