Systems and methods for coordinating and controlling vehicles, for example heavy trucks, to follow closely behind each other, or linking to form a platoon. In one aspect, on-board controllers in each vehicle interact with vehicular sensors to monitor and control, for example, relative distance, relative acceleration or deceleration, and speed. In some aspects, a lead vehicle can wirelessly transmit information from various electronic control units (ECUs) to ECUs in a rear vehicle. A rear vehicle can then apply transformations to the information to account for a desired following distance and a time offset. ECUs onboard the rear vehicle may then be controlled based on the ECUs of the lead vehicle, the desired following distance, and the time offset.

A method for controlling transient operation of a variable flux machine (VFM) includes, during a shunt angle transition, receiving a commanded and measured shunt angle when operating in a predetermined operating region, e.g., maximum torque per ampere or field weakening. The method includes calculating d-axis and q-axis delta current terms (I.sub.d and I.sub.q) required to maintain an output torque level of the VFM through a duration of the shunt angle transition, then applying the required I.sub.d and I.sub.d terms as feed-forward terms to adjust a d-axis current (I.sub.d) term and a q-axis current (I.sub.q) term from a respective lookup table. In this manner the controller maintains the output torque level of the VFM during the shunt angle transition. An electric powertrain includes the VFM, a TPIM, and the controller. A PM machine may be controlled by substituting temperature for shunt angle.

Method for updating at least one vehicle model parameter and at least one tire parameter in at least one chassis control unit of a vehicle, based on tire sensor information collected by a tire sensor placed on a tire. The method includes the steps of: collecting tire sensor information; updating the at least one vehicle model parameter based on updating at least one tire parameter, updating one tire parameter being based on the tire sensor information.

A method of changing an operation mode of a hybrid vehicle may include determining a current operation mode, determining a predicted travel distance in a first mode when the current operation mode is the first mode or a current driving load satisfies a criterion for switching to the first mode as a result of the determination, determining whether an engine is warmed up, and determining whether to drive in the first mode or a second mode according to the determined predicted travel distance and whether the engine is warmed up.

A propulsion system, control system, and method use model predictive control systems to generate a plurality of sets of possible command values and determine a cost for each set of possible command values. The set of possible command values that has the lowest cost is determined and defined as a selected set of command values. In some circumstances, the MPC-determined command value may be replaced by another transmission ratio command based on override inputs. Minimum and maximum transmission ratios are determined based on the override inputs, and a constrained (or arbitrated) transmission ratio is determined therefrom. The constrained or arbitrated transmission ratio is used to determine whether to apply an MPC-determined transmission ratio or a transmission ratio based on the arbitrated transmission ratio to determine an ultimate commanded transmission ratio. Pressure(s) are commanded to a transmission pulley assembly, which is configured to implement the ultimate commanded transmission ratio.

Systems and methods provide power to augment that of an electric motor in a hybrid electric vehicle to control deceleration of the hybrid electric vehicle. When a hybrid electric vehicle is going to encounter some road condition that may require deceleration, e.g., a downgrade, the hybrid electric vehicle may turn off the engine to take advantage of the regenerative braking properties of the hybrid electric vehicle while traversing the downgrade. However, in situations where the electric motor is unable to provide sufficient negative motor torque to control deceleration, the engine can be connected to the drivetrain in a fuel-cut off mode allowing the engine to generate negative engine torque that can augment the negative motor torque.

Disclosed is a method for control of a vehicle with a drive system comprising a planetary gear and a first and second electrical machine, connected with their rotors to the components of the planetary gear, a braking of the vehicle towards stop occurs by way of a distribution of the desired braking torque between the first and the second electrical machines, and wherein such electrical machines are controlled to transmit a total torque to an output shaft of the planetary gear, which corresponds to the desired braking torque at least to one predetermined low speed limit, before the vehicle stops.

Systems and methods provide power to augment that of an electric motor in a hybrid electric vehicle to control deceleration of the hybrid electric vehicle. When a hybrid electric vehicle is going to encounter some road condition that may require deceleration, e.g., a downgrade, the hybrid electric vehicle may turn off the engine to take advantage of the regenerative braking properties of the hybrid electric vehicle while traversing the downgrade. However, in situations where the electric motor is unable to provide sufficient negative motor torque to control deceleration, the engine can be connected to the drivetrain in a fuel-cut off mode allowing the engine to generate negative engine torque that can augment the negative motor torque.

Described herein is a method for reducing noise in a driveline of a motor vehicle, the method including detecting a condition initiating a noise event of the driveline by using one or more sensors on board the vehicle; and controlling, as a function of the detected condition and of a signal of said one or more sensors, an actuation of one or more actuators that govern corresponding devices that can be connected to the driveline and configured for generating a torsional pre-load condition in the driveline itself.

A driving support apparatus includes a drive source, a brake detector, a vehicle velocity detector, a wheel velocity detector, and a driving force controller. The drive source is configured to give driving force to each of drive wheels capable of being independently driven. The brake detector is configured to detect depression of a brake pedal. The vehicle velocity detector is configured to detect vehicle velocity of a vehicle. The wheel velocity detector is configured to detect wheel velocity of each of the drive wheels. The driving force controller is configured to control the driving force for each of the drive wheels.