Disclosed is a vehicle acceleration compensation system, including an accelerator pedal, throttle, and a transmission configured to shift between two or more fixed gears, wherein each gear relates the motor power to a vehicle torque. The system also includes a control unit configured to receive data from one or more sensors. The control unit includes a real-time throttle map relating the accelerator pedal position to the throttle position, such that a given accelerator pedal position directs a corresponding target throttle position, and a real-time shift map relating a desired transmission gear to a current transmission gear, current vehicle speed, and current throttle position, such that a given vehicle speed, given throttle position, and given transmission gear directs a corresponding target transmission gear. In response to sensor data, the control unit updates the throttle map and shift map such that the vehicle torque is altered to produce a desired acceleration value.

Methods and systems for improving fuel economy and reducing emissions of a vehicle with an electric motor, an engine, an energy storage device, and a controller are disclosed. The method includes obtaining current state information including a current hybrid control surface, and determining a target hybrid control surface for the vehicle based on the current state information.

Disclosed are devices, systems and methods for an audio assistant in an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle. In one aspect the informational audio assistant receives a first set of data from a vehicle sensor and identifies an object or condition using the data from the vehicle sensor. Audio is generated representative of a perceived danger of an object or condition. A second set of data from the vehicle sensor subsystem is received and the informational audio assistant determines whether an increased danger exists based on a comparison of the first set of data to the second set of data. The informational audio assistant will apply a sound profile to the generated audio based on the increased danger.

System, methods, and other embodiments described herein relate to determining a location of a vehicle within a structure. In one embodiment, a method includes collecting, from at least one sensor in the vehicle, sensor data that indicates information associated with control of the vehicle in the structure. The method includes classifying gradients along a path of the vehicle through the structure according to the sensor data. The method includes identifying traversed levels of the structure along the path according to the gradients. The method includes providing the location including at least an indicator of the traversed levels as an electronic output.

A method of operating a vehicle having an engine, a throttle valve and a throttle operator. A continuously variable transmission operatively connected to the engine has a driving pulley, a driven pulley, and a belt operatively connecting the driving and driven pulleys. A ground engaging member is operatively connected to the driven pulley. A piston is operatively connected to the driving pulley for applying a piston force thereto and thereby changing an effective diameter of the driving pulley. A control unit controls actuation of the piston and the piston force. The method includes detecting a stall condition indicative of the vehicle being stalled, and, responsive to the detection, setting the piston force to be zero.

A method for processing point clouds having variable spatial distributions of scan lines includes receiving a point cloud frame generated by a sensor configured to sense an environment through which a vehicle is moving. The point cloud frame includes scan lines arranged according to a particular spatial distribution. The method also includes either generating an enhanced point cloud frame with a larger number of points than the received point cloud frame, or constructing, by one or more processors and based on points of the received point cloud frame, a three-dimensional mesh. The method also includes generating, by performing an interpolation function on the enhanced point cloud frame or a virtual surface provided by the three-dimensional mesh, a normalized point cloud frame, and generating, using the normalized point cloud frame, signals descriptive of a current state of the environment through which the vehicle is moving.

In some examples, a system determines a baseline of at least one route segment based on measurement data received from a plurality of vehicles. The system receives first measurement data of a first vehicle that has traveled along the at least one route segment, and compares the first measurement data to the baseline. Based on the comparing, the system determines whether operation of the first vehicle is within an acceptable tolerance of a performance criterion, and determines whether the at least one route segment is an undesirable route segment according to a route criterion.

An apparatus and method for controlling gear shift of a hybrid vehicle prevent frequent gear shift by adjusting output of a driving motor or a gear shift time point of a transmission based on road condition or vehicle state while the hybrid vehicle is driven in a specific road condition or a specific vehicle state in a HEV mode. The apparatus includes a driving state detector that detects a road condition and a vehicle state and a controller that receives the road condition and the vehicle state from the driving state detector to differentiate and select a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) mode into a normal mode and a compensation mode. The controller adjusts the output of a driving motor or a gear shift time point of a transmission according to different conditions from the driving state detector in the compensation mode.

A method for processing point clouds having variable spatial distributions of scan lines includes receiving a point cloud portion corresponding to an object in a vehicle environment, the point cloud portion including scan lines arranged according to a particular spatial distribution. The method also includes constructing a voxel grid corresponding to the received point cloud portion. The voxel grid includes a plurality of volumes in a stacked, three-dimensional arrangement, and constructing the voxel grid includes (i) determining an initial classification of the object, (ii) setting one or more parameters of the voxel grid based on the initial classification, and (iii) associating each volume of the plurality of volumes with an attribute specifying how many points, from the point cloud portion, fall within that volume. The method also includes generating, using the constructed voxel grid, signals descriptive of a current state of the environment through which the vehicle is moving.

A method for operating a hybrid drive system for a motor vehicle having an internal combustion engine and an electrical drive, which is supplied by an electrical energy store, the required powers of the internal combustion engine and/or of the electrical drive being set in accordance with a specified load distribution, including: regulating the load distribution between the electrical drive and the internal combustion engine based on a current setpoint state of charge of the electrical energy store; and determining the current setpoint state of charge from a specified linear setpoint state of charge curve between a current position of the motor vehicle and a destination.