A control device that includes an electronic control unit that is configured to perform lock-up engagement pressure control for acceleration upon acceleration of a vehicle where vehicle speed is increased by increasing a rotational speed of the internal combustion engine, the lock-up engagement pressure control for acceleration controlling engagement pressure of the lock-up clutch, wherein in the lock-up engagement pressure control for acceleration, when an actual rotational speed of the input has reached greater than or equal to a reference rotational speed, the electronic control unit is configured to start engagement pressure increase control, the reference rotational speed being lower than a target rotational speed of the internal combustion engine, and the engagement pressure increase control increasing the engagement pressure of the lock-up clutch.

A vehicle is provided to include an engine, a motor operating with electrical energy of a battery, an engine clutch for switching between an operation mode including an EV mode for transferring power generated by the motor to wheels and an HEV mode for transferring power generated by the engine and the motor to the wheels, and a controller. The controller collects status information from the motor and the engine, determines an equivalence factor based on status information of the battery and load information using electrical energy of the battery and determines an operation mode in which energy consumption is minimized among a plurality of energy consumption amounts calculated based on the determined equivalent factor and the modes of the engine clutch.

A launch control method is provided for a vehicle having an accelerator, a brake and a continuously variable transmission (CVT). The method comprises determining: (i) a braking torque set by a vehicle operator by pressing a brake pedal of the vehicle; and (ii) a holding torque required to hold the vehicle in a stationary position. The method also determines that the operator has released the brake pedal. The brake is released whilst engaging a launch clutch of the CVT, wherein the launch clutch is engaged by increasing a clutch engagement pressure at a first pressure ramp rate, such that the sum of the braking torque and a clutch torque of the clutch remains equal to the holding torque. An acceleration torque requested by the operator via the accelerator is determined. The clutch engagement pressure is increased at a second pressure ramp rate when it is determined that the braking torque is substantially zero, such that the clutch torque is increased by the acceleration torque. A fixed minimum pressure ramp rate is stored, wherein the minimum pressure ramp rate increases the clutch engagement pressure towards a maximum engagement pressure. The current pressure ramp rate is compared with the minimum pressure ramp rate, and the clutch engagement pressure is switched to the minimum pressure ramp rate if the current pressure ramp rate is less than the minimum pressure ramp rate.

A vehicle system includes: a driving control device that controls driving of a vehicle based on a target speed; a transmission control device that transmits a speed control prohibition request to the driving control device when an acceleration event occurs while the vehicle is in a neutral state, and engages a clutch of a transmission while the speed control is prohibited by the driving control device; and an engine control device that outputs a predetermined engine torque in response to a reception of an engine torque control signal from the driving control device.

A method for controlling a motor vehicle take-off from rest including the steps of transitioning the vehicle from a brake holding mode to an engine driving mode and then accelerating the vehicle in a forward direction until a set vehicle target speed has been reached. The method including maintaining the vehicle at the set target speed until a driver of the vehicle intervenes.

A saddled vehicle driven by a driver can include a detection device and a cruise control device for judging the other vehicles detected by the detection device and traveling in a same traffic lane as the own vehicle's traffic lane as a preceding vehicle and for automatically controlling travel of the vehicle driven by the driver so that the vehicle driven by the driver follows the preceding vehicle and keeps a preset intervehicular distance relative to the preceding vehicle. The cruise control device can obtain a forward intervehicular distance which is a distance from the vehicle driven by the driver to the preceding vehicle in a traveling direction and a side intervehicular distance which is a distance from the vehicle driven by the driver to the preceding vehicle in a vehicle width direction and can perform the automatic travel control of the vehicle driven by the driver in accordance with the forward intervehicular distance and the side intervehicular distance.

A vehicle control unit performs filling control in which the vehicle control unit boosts an oil pressure in a second oil passage by supplying electric power to a pressure regulating valve with a switch valve being in a first state in which the switch valve connects a first oil passage to a clutch and disconnects the second oil passage from the clutch, torque replacement control in which the vehicle control unit increases motor torque while reducing shaft torque of an engine, and clutch disengagement control in which the vehicle control unit disengages the clutch while performing hydraulic control by the pressure regulating valve with the switch valve being in the second state in which the switch valve connects the second oil passage to the clutch and disconnects the first oil passage from the clutch.

A method and system of controlling an engine for vehicle interior heating is provided. The method includes performing a first engine control when the engine is not in an engine-on state for vehicle driving, to perform heating control for interior heating at a predetermined range of a reference coolant temperature. Additionally, the method includes performing a second engine control when the engine is in an engine-on state for vehicle driving, to prolong an engine-on time for vehicle driving by setting a minimum value of the range of the reference coolant temperature to a lower value and setting a maximum value of the range of the reference coolant temperature to a higher value and to determine a point of time of engine-off operation based on a real-time lock up time and an average lock up time of an engine clutch for vehicle driving.

Hybrid vehicles and methods of operating the same are disclosed. Example methods may include providing a powertrain for the vehicle, which includes an internal combustion engine configured to provide rotational power to a rotatable input of a transmission by way of a starting device, and an electric motor-generator comprising a rotor configured to selectively provide rotational power to the rotatable input. The method may further include selectively disconnecting the engine from the rotatable input using a disconnect device separate from the starting device, thereby allowing the rotatable input of the transmission to be driven at a speed faster than an output speed of the engine.

Systems and methods for operating a driveline of a hybrid vehicle are presented. In one example, the systems and methods determine a driveline disconnect boost time during vehicle operating conditions when it may be less noticeable. The driveline disconnect boost time may then be used to close a driveline disconnect clutch in a way that may reduce torque disturbances through the driveline.