Systems and methods are provided for vehicle battery charge reduction. A hybrid electric vehicle is disclosed. The vehicle comprises an internal combustion engine; an electric motor; a battery electrically coupled to the electric motor; a battery charger electrically coupled to the battery and mechanically coupled to the internal combustion engine; one or more sensors, wherein each sensor provides a respective sensor signal, wherein each sensor signal represents a respective current operating condition of the hybrid electric vehicle; and a computing component configured to: perform a first comparison of a state-of-charge of the battery to a charge threshold, perform a second comparison of one or more of the current vehicle operating conditions to respective nominal vehicle operating conditions, wherein none of the vehicle operating conditions describe a condition of the battery, and reduce charging of the battery based on the first comparison and the second comparison.

A rear-side alarm device and a rear-side alarm method thereof. The rear-side alarm device includes a sensor and a controller. The sensor monitors a rear area or a rear-side area of a vehicle. If a trailer connected to the vehicle is detected, the controller sets a system deactivation area and a system activation area, based on status information of the trailer, and controls an alarm operation to be performed by judging whether or not another vehicle has entered into the system activation area. The rear-side alarm device can operate normally even in the case in which a trailer is connected to a vehicle, thereby providing driving safety to a driver.

A lane departure suppression device includes an object information acquisition device that acquires information on an object around a vehicle, and a control unit that executes, when determination is made that there is a possibility that the vehicle crosses a departure determination reference line based on information acquired by the object information acquisition device, lane departure suppression control such that the possibility is reduced. The control unit is configured to change the departure determination reference line such that determination is made more easily that there is the possibility when the vehicle is towing a trailer than when the vehicle is not towing the trailer.

Automated driver assistance systems and methods for towing predict vehicle/trailer instabilities and adapt automated driving control to avoid them. A tow-vehicle includes a controller that, through an actuator system, controls speed and/or steering. A map system and/or a sensor system monitor a roadway on which the vehicle is travelling to identify a road profile located ahead of the vehicle over a prediction horizon. A projected trajectory for navigating the vehicle through the road profile over the prediction horizon and considering environmental conditions is determined. Before travel over the road profile, whether the projected trajectory through the road profile will result in exceeding a vehicle dynamic threshold is determined. When the projected trajectory will result in exceeding the vehicle dynamic threshold through the road profile, a control action is determined to prevent instability and optimize driver experience. The vehicle is operated through the road profile using the control action.

A vehicle can operate on a roadway for which a default lane is defined. Upon determining that the vehicle is currently operating on the roadway for which the default lane is defined, a lane override command to select a target lane other than the default lane can be determined based on prior lane selections in the vehicle. A vehicle component can be actuated based on the target lane override command.

An example operation includes one or more of determining, by sensors on a transport, a slope of a road and a surface condition of the road and engaging one or more wheels of the transport, based on the slope, the surface condition, and a characteristic of the one or more wheels. Engaging includes braking to the one or more wheels at a different rate as the transport is moving on the road.

Various disclosed embodiments include illustrative drive unit controllers, drive units, and vehicles. In an illustrative embodiment, a drive unit controller includes a processor having computer-readable media configured to store computer-executable instructions configured to cause the processor to receive free-wheel tow mode activation information, activate a hold mode based on the received free-wheel tow mode activation information, generate a zero-speed command in response to the hold mode being activated, and send the generated zero-speed command to a stabilizing system of the associated vehicle.

According to a computer-implemented method for localizing a fifth wheel hitch coupler (3) of a motor vehicle (1), a camera image (8) depicting the hitch coupler (3) is received from a camera (2) of the motor vehicle (1) and a top view image is generated by projecting the camera image (8) to a plane, which is perpendicular to a predefined height axis of the motor vehicle (1). A contour map (13) representing a contour (14) of a coupler throat (4) of the hitch coupler (3) is determined based on the top view image and a two-dimensional in-plane position of the coupler throat (4) is determined by fitting a predefined geometric figure (17) to the contour (14) of the coupler throat (4).

Examples of techniques for controlling a vehicle based on trailer sway are disclosed. In one example implementation according to aspects of the present disclosure, a computer-implemented method includes estimating, by a processing device, an estimated articulation angle between a vehicle and a trailer coupled to the vehicle. The method further includes calculating, by the processing device, an expected articulation angle between the vehicle and the trailer. The method further includes comparing, by the processing device, the estimated articulation angle and the expected articulation angle to determine whether the trailer is experiencing trailer sway. The method further includes, responsive to determining that the trailer is experiencing sway, controlling, by the processing device, the vehicle to reduce the trailer sway.

A method of monitoring an attachment between a towing vehicle and a towed vehicle includes determining that a first attachment element on the towed vehicle is not coupled to a second attachment element on the towing vehicle, receiving an indication that the towing vehicle is moving, and activating at least one of a towing vehicle brake system, a visual alert system, and an audible alert system.