A hybrid power drive system, including a power battery device, a range extender system, and a motor drive system. The power battery device is configured to supply power to the motor drive system. The range extender system includes an engine and a generator. The generator is able to generate power under the driving of the engine to supply the power to the motor drive system and/or charge the power battery device. The hybrid power drive system further includes a vehicle control unit configured to control the engine and/or generator of the range extender system to generate a driving force. The range extender system is mechanically connected to a main coupling mechanism to transmit the generated driving force to a main drive axle of a vehicle by means of the main coupling mechanism to drive wheels on both sides of the axle to rotate. Also provided is a vehicle having the hybrid power drive system. According to the hybrid power drive system and the vehicle having same, the vehicle control unit is utilized to control the engine and/or generator of the range extender system to generate the driving force for different application operating conditions, and thus the economy of the vehicle can be effectively improved.

An assistance system for a vehicle capable of automated operation has a controller having a processor and tangible, non-transitory memory on which instructions are recorded. The vehicle is located on a first lane in a vicinity of one or more neighboring vehicles, the first lane merging with a second lane at a merging trajectory location. The controller is adapted to selectively execute a leader determination module when a distance of the vehicle to the merge starting point is less than a threshold value. This includes determining an estimated arrival time of the vehicle to a merge starting point of the merging trajectory location. The controller is adapted to select a leader vehicle from the neighboring vehicles based in part on their respective estimated arrival times to the merge starting point. Operation of the vehicle is controlled based in part on the leader vehicle.

Systems and methods for characterizing a driving style of an autonomous vehicle are presented. A system may include one or more sensors configured to collect information concerning driving characteristics; a memory containing computer-readable instructions for evaluating the driving characteristics for a pattern(s) correlatable with a driving style of the autonomous vehicle and for characterizing aspects of driving style based on the one or more patterns; and a processor configured to evaluate the driving characteristics for the one or more patterns correlatable with the driving style, and characterize aspects of the driving style based on the pattern(s). Corresponding methods and non-transitory media are disclosed.

Aspects of the disclosure relate to controlling a vehicle in an autonomous driving mode. The system includes a plurality of sensors configured to generate sensor data. The system also includes a first computing system configured to generate trajectories using the sensor data and send the generated trajectories to a second computing system. The second computing system is configured to cause the vehicle to follow a receive trajectory. The system also includes a third computing system configured to, when there is a failure of the first computer system, generate and send trajectories to the second computing system based on whether a vehicle is located on a highway or a surface street.

A system is provided generating a context-dependent experience for a vehicle driver, e.g., to relax or enhance the driver's mental state. A system controller is configured to receive driving context data regarding a driving situation from various driving context data sources. The driving context data may include vehicle operation data, e.g., generated by vehicle-based sensors, and environmental data regarding an environment external to the vehicle, e.g., received wirelessly from a remote server. The system controller may identify content triggering events based on (a) the received driver context data and (b) a set of content triggering rules. For each content triggering event, the system controller may select one or more human-perceivable contents elements (e.g., audio clips, seat massage settings, or air conditioner settings), and control one or more content output devices (e.g., speakers, seat massage system, or vehicle HVAC system) to output the selected content element(s) to the driver.

A method for controlling an approach of a driving vehicle to at least one preceding reference vehicle using an automated distance setting as a function of a setpoint distance between the vehicle and the reference vehicle. The setpoint distance is calculated as a function of an operating position of an operating element of the vehicle, which is actuatable by the driver of the vehicle and controls a drive of the vehicle. The setpoint distance being reduced directly or indirectly by actuating an actuating element of the vehicle, which has an actuating position, is actuatable by the driver of the vehicle, and controls a braking deceleration of the vehicle. A distance control system, a computer program, and a memory unit, as also described.

A vehicle control system includes a vehicle estimator and a stop position setter. The vehicle estimator is configured to make determination on whether an entering vehicle entering an oncoming lane from an intersecting road is present, and estimate an overall length of the entering vehicle upon determining that the entering vehicle is present. The intersecting road intersects a traveling road where a vehicle to which the vehicle control system is applied is traveling. The stop position setter is configured to set a stop position of the vehicle based on the determination made by the vehicle estimator as to whether the entering vehicle is present and the estimated overall length of the entering vehicle.

A system and method of path planning utilizing a clothoid curve to connect a start point and an end point is provided. The method includes receiving at a path planning system inputs including the start point and the end point of a desired path. The method further includes calculating clothoid parameters for a clothoid curve connecting the start point and the end point based the received start point, the received end point, and a closed-form expression, wherein the closed-form expression is generated based on a relationship between a plurality of unique center point values associated with a plurality of unique clothoid curves and the clothoid parameters associated with each of the plurality of unique clothoid curves. A clothoid curve is generated based on the determined clothoid parameters, wherein the generated clothoid curve represents a planned path from the start point to the end point.

A fault diagnostic device 80 includes an input unit 81 and a generation unit 82. The input unit 81 receives input of observation data of a vehicle operating at a predetermined speed. The generation unit 82 extracts time series features of the observation data as features indicating a normal condition, and generates a feature master indicating the normal condition of the vehicle based on the extracted features.

A map construction method and a related apparatus are provided. The method includes: obtaining, based on manual driving track data and/or an obstacle grid map, road information, intersection information, and lane information of a region through which a vehicle has traveled; obtaining road traffic direction information based on the manual driving track data and the road information, and obtaining lane traffic direction information based on the lane information and the road traffic direction information; obtaining intersection entry and exit point information based on the intersection information and the lane traffic direction information; and performing, based on the intersection entry and exit point information, an operation of generating a virtual topology center line to obtain an autonomous driving map of the region through which the vehicle has traveled, where the virtual topology center line is a traveling boundary line of the vehicle in an intersection region.