A vehicle driving assistance apparatus predicts (i) a first consumed energy amount corresponding to a consumed energy amount consumed by a driving apparatus of an own vehicle when executing a first following control and (ii) a second consumed energy amount corresponding to the consumed energy amount consumed by the driving apparatus of the own vehicle when executing the second following control. The apparatus executes the second following control when the second consumed energy amount is smaller than the first consumed energy amount. On the other hand, the apparatus executes the first following control when the second consumed energy amount is equal to or greater than the first consumed energy amount.

A vehicle may transmit, to a network entity, a lane use request message associated with a lane for the vehicle. The network entity may identify lane information associated with a lane for a vehicle. The network entity may identify vehicle information associated with the vehicle. The network entity may transmit, to the vehicle, and the vehicle may receive, from the network entity, a lane use grant message based on at least one of the identified lane information or the identified vehicle information. The lane use grant message may be indicative of a permission for the vehicle to use the lane. The vehicle may not be permitted to use the lane without the permission. The lane may correspond to a flexible direction lane, an emergency lane, a road shoulder, an HOV lane, or a passing lane.

Hybrid power train (1) with a low-voltage motor-generator (2), in particular with a 48V motor-generator (2), comprising: an internal combustion engine (3); a clutch (4) operatively connected to the internal combustion engine (3); a drive shaft (5) which at a first end portion is operatively connected to the clutch (4), and which at a second end portion is operatively connected to a gearbox; a low-voltage motor-generator (2) operatively connected to the drive shaft (5); an inverter unit (7) operatively connected to the low-voltage motor-generator (2); an electronic control unit (8); an electric power source (9) operatively connected to the inverter unit (7); wherein the low-voltage motor-generator (2) is arranged in a concentric manner around the drive shaft (5) in such a way as to form a driving connection between a rotor of the low-voltage motor-generator (2) and the drive shaft (5); wherein the low-voltage motor-generator (2), the inverter unit (7) the electric power source (9), and the gearbox are arranged entirely inside a bell housing (10) of the gearbox, and wherein the electronic control unit (8) comprises a) at least one controller arranged in the bellhousing (10) and no controller arranged out of the bellhousing (10); b) two or more controllers, wherein at least one controller is arranged in the bellhousing (10) and at least one controller is arranged out of the bellhousing (10); or c) at least one controller arranged out of the bellhousing (10) and no controller arranged in the bellhousing (10).

An example method of providing an at least partially automatic driving function and/or a personalized function in a motor vehicle as well as to the motor vehicle may include establishing a communication link between a communication interface of the motor vehicle and a communication interface of a mobile terminal, which is associated with a user of the motor vehicle; receiving terminal data transferred via the communication link in the motor vehicle, which is recorded on the mobile terminal and which describes at least navigation information and/or user information relating to the user; and providing an at least partially automatic driving function of a driver assistance system of the motor vehicle and/or a personalized function in the motor vehicle by evaluating the received terminal data.

A method of operating a vehicle of determining whether the vehicle is operating in a road segment with a low visibility condition to cause a loss of input of sensor data to a vehicle controller that operates an assist feature, activating one or more adaptive alerts based on a road departure risk of the vehicle, and driver use of the assist feature in the upcoming road segment, wherein the road departure risk is determined by calculating a road departure risk index that compares an estimated vehicle path based on the vehicle state data with a probabilistic vehicle path for the upcoming road segment; and predicting whether will operate within an acceptable path in the upcoming road segment; and tracking the vehicle in the upcoming road segment based on vehicle navigation data to provide at least one adaptive alert based on a prediction of the road departure risk.

A method is disclosed for analyzing historical accident information to adjust driving actions of an autonomous vehicle over a travel route in order to avoid accidents which have occurred over the travel route. Historical accident information for the travel route can be analyzed to, for example, determine accident types which occurred over the travel route and determine causes and/or probable causes of the accident types. In response to determining accident types and causes/probable causes of the accident types over the travel route, adjustments can be made to the driving actions planned for the autonomous vehicle over the travel route. In addition, in an embodiment, historical accident information can be used to analyze available travel routes and select a route which presents less risk of accident than others.

When information related to road surface conditions is conveyed from a vehicle body side system to a tire-mounted sensor and the tire-mounted sensor determines the road surface condition, an integrated voltage value is corrected based on the information related to the road surface condition. It is thus possible to estimate the road surface condition more accurately. Furthermore, in as much as the road surface condition is estimated at each tire-mounted sensor, the road surface condition can be estimated for each wheel.

A device for controlling a vehicle convenience equipment includes a communicator configured to communicate with at least one sensor for recognizing a surrounding environment, and a processor configured to, in a vehicle washing mode, determine whether a vehicle washing is complete based on surrounding environment information recognized by the at least one sensor received through the communicator, and upon concluding that the vehicle washing is completed, control the communicator to transmit a return control signal for at least one electronic device whose operating state is changed before the vehicle washing mode is performed.

A method for changing a control authority of an autonomous vehicle in consideration of an external environment includes determining a first risk level of a physical condition of a driver who drives the autonomous vehicle, determining a second risk level in response to one of a mental condition or a conscious condition of the driver, determining a driver proficiency level of a driver, and allocating a control authority of the autonomous vehicle to the driver or to the autonomous vehicle according to a result of a determination of the first risk level, the second risk level, and the driver proficiency level.

Systems and methods for managing speed thresholds for a fleet of vehicles are disclosed. Input is used to provide associations between particular weather-relation conditions (such as rain) and arithmetic operations, that may be used to determine a current speed threshold as a function of a local posted speed limit at the current location of a vehicle. The current speed threshold is subsequently used to detect whether vehicles are exceeding the current speed threshold.