A method for ascertaining the instantaneous roadway roughness in a vehicle. In the method, the frequency-dependent amplitude response is determined from the wheel speed, and a roughness characteristic variable is ascertained as a measure of the roadway roughness.

Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture for vehicle turning in confined spaces are disclosed herein. An example apparatus disclosed herein instructions, at least one memory, a processor to execute the instructions to operate a first brake of a first wheel of a vehicle, operate a second brake of a second wheel of the vehicle, determine a frictional coefficient of a driving surface of the vehicle by rotating a third wheel of the vehicle, determine based on the frictional coefficient, if a turn command can be conducted by the vehicle, and when the turn command can be conducted, conduct the turn command.

A predictive traction control system may include: a road surface conditions information providing unit mounted on a vehicle driven by a driving motor, to detect and output an upstream road surface condition in a travelling direction of the vehicle; and a predictive control unit electrically connected to the road surface conditions information providing unit, determining an entry or release of the predictive traction control using information on road surface conditions input from the road surface conditions information providing unit, and calculating target driving motor speed for controlling the driving motor and transmitting the same.

A drive control apparatus is applied to a drive system that is mounted to a vehicle, drives wheels of the vehicle by a motor, and brakes the wheels by a brake apparatus. The drive control apparatus determines a road-surface state of a travel road of the vehicle. The drive control apparatus suppresses slipping of the vehicle by correcting a drive torque by correcting at least either of a motor torque and a brake torque. When determined that the drive torque is to be corrected, the drive control apparatus adjusts a correction amount of the drive torque by adjusting the motor torque with higher priority than the brake torque in response to be determined that the road-surface state is rough.

A safety system for a vehicle may include one or more processors configured to determine, based on a friction prediction model, one or more predictive friction coefficients between the ground and one or more tires of the ground vehicle using first ground condition data and second ground condition data. The first ground condition data represent conditions of the ground at or near the position of the ground vehicle, and the second ground condition data represent conditions of the ground in front of the ground vehicle with respect to a driving direction of the ground vehicle. The one or more processors are further configured to determine driving conditions of the ground vehicle using the determined one or more predictive friction coefficients.

The systems and methods described herein are related to terrain-based insights for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) in vehicles. Such terrain-based insights may be related to ADAS features such as adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, automatic emergency braking, collision avoidance, and/or speed adaptation, among others.

Vehicle alert and control systems and methods taking into account a detected road friction at a following vehicle and a predicted road friction by the following vehicle. The detected road friction between the following vehicle tires and the road surface may be assessed using a variety of methodologies and is used to compute a critical safety distance between the following vehicle and the preceding vehicle and a critical safety speed of the following vehicle. The predicted road friction ahead of the following vehicle may also be assessed using a variety of methodologies (lidar, camera, and cloud-based examples are provided) and is used to compute a warning safety distance between the following vehicle and the preceding vehicle and a warning safety speed of the following vehicle. These functionalities may be applied to vehicle/stationary object warning and response scenarios as well.

A vehicle control system for reducing turn radius of a vehicle may include electric motors associated with front and rear wheels of the vehicle. The system may further include a plurality of vehicle sensors to receive information including driving surface type, vehicle speed and handwheel position. The system may also include a controller operably coupled to the electric motors and the sensors to control wheel slip during a turn based on the driving surface type, the vehicle speed and the handwheel position.

A safe following distance estimation system and an estimation method thereof are provided. The safe following distance estimation system adapted for an autonomous vehicle includes a sensor and a processor. The sensor senses an adjacent vehicle to generate first sensing data, and senses the autonomous vehicle to generate second sensing data. The processor estimates a first friction parameter between wheels of the adjacent vehicle and a pavement according to pavement material data, and estimates a second friction parameter between wheels of the autonomous vehicle and the pavement according to the second sensing data. The processor calculates a safe following distance between the autonomous vehicle and the adjacent vehicle according to the first sensing data, the second sensing data, the first friction parameter, the second friction parameter.

A vehicle control apparatus may include: a profile generator that generates at least one speed profile including a hysteresis section, in which deceleration and acceleration due to coasting of a vehicle are repeated, based on an environmental condition of the vehicle; a profile selector that selects a speed profile, which satisfies a predetermined condition, from among the at least one speed profile; and a controller that controls a speed of the vehicle depending on the speed profile selected by the profile selector.