A method and apparatus for providing an advised driving speed to a driver of a vehicle travelling on a road network is disclosed. The method comprises determining an advised driving speed of a vehicle for a portion of the road network currently being traversed, determining a current speed of the vehicle on the portion of the road network, and determining a speed limit and/or an expected driving speed for the portion of the road network. An indication of the advised driving speed is then provided to the driver of the vehicle when: (i) the current speed of the vehicle is greater than a first threshold value based on the advised driving speed; and (ii) the speed limit and/or the expected driving speed is greater than a second threshold value. A method and apparatus is also disclosed for determining a score indicative of the compliance of a driver of a vehicle to an advised driving speed during a journey on a road network.

A method to control a hybrid vehicle with a parallel architecture and with an unknown speed profile, wherein the hybrid vehicle is provided with an internal combustion engine and with a reversible electrical machine connected to a storage system designed to store electrical energy; the method comprises the steps of recognizing the operating mode of the hybrid vehicle; determining a function of the specific fuel consumption of the drive system of the hybrid vehicle as a function of the operating mode of the hybrid vehicle; determining the optimal value of the power of the storage system and the optimal value of the power of the internal combustion engine, which correspond to the values that permit a minimization of said function.

A prime mover arrangement includes a prime mover (23) including a first shaft (25) driven by the prime mover, a second shaft (27), and a speed and torque manipulator (29) connected to the first shaft (25) and to the second shaft (27), the speed and torque manipulator permitting manipulation between at least one non-one-to-one ratio or a plurality of different input/output ratios of speeds and torques input by the first shaft and output to the second shaft. A method is also disclosed.

A method and a system (200) for providing an auxiliary unit control profile for controlling an auxiliary unit (201) in a motor vehicle (202) including receiving travelling route data relating to a travelling route of the motor vehicle and based thereon, identifying an expected future travelling route. Based on the expected future travelling route and on auxiliary unit operation data, an auxiliary unit control profile for controlling the auxiliary unit during travel along the expected future travelling route is determined in a processing unit (204). The auxiliary unit control profile is outputted to a control unit (206) configured to execute the auxiliary unit control profile and control the auxiliary unit based on the auxiliary unit control profile.

A vehicle clutch control device is provided for switching from a two-wheel drive traveling to a four-wheel drive traveling. The vehicle clutch control device includes a dog clutch that separates a rear wheel drive from a front wheel drive by releasing the dog clutch, an electronically controlled coupling that distributes a driving force of a transverse engine to left and right rear wheels in accordance with a clutch connection capacity, and a four-wheel drive control unit. The four-wheel drive control unit switches the drive mode to one of a disconnect two-wheel drive mode in which the dog clutch and the electronically controlled coupling are released, a connect four-wheel drive mode in which the dog clutch and the electronically controlled coupling are engaged, and a stand-by two-wheel drive mode in which the dog clutch is engaged while the electronically controlled coupling is released.

A vehicle is provided with a continuously variable transmission device and an electric control unit controlling an engine, a motor generator, and the continuously variable transmission device. The electric control unit selects any one of a plurality of operation modes, having different correlations between a driver's accelerator operation amount and a control throttle opening, to suit driver's requests, and performs a number-of-revolutions increase control for increasing an engine rotation speed according to at least one of elapsed time from a time point of a vehicle speed increase and elapsed time from a time point of an acceleration request in a case where the control throttle opening exceeds a predetermined threshold. The electric control unit controls the engine to suppress the engine rotation speed change due to a change of the operation mode in a case where the control throttle opening is changed across the predetermined threshold in response to the change of the operation mode.

A power control system may include at least one of batteries, a motor, and a data logic analyzer that can interpret certain variable conditions of a transport, such as a tractor trailer, moving along a road or highway. The data can be used to determine when to apply supplemental power to the wheels of a trailer to reduce fuel usage. One example device may include at least one of: a power creation module that generates electrical power, a battery which store the electrical power, a motor affixed to a trailer axle of a trailer which provides a turning force to the trailer axle when enabled to operate from the stored electrical power of the battery, and a motor controller configured to initiate the motor to operate according to a predefined sensor condition.

A system that includes an accelerometer configured to measure acceleration of a vehicle, a gyroscope configured to measure orientation of the vehicle, a memory having computer readable instructions, and a processor for executing the computer readable instructions. The computer readable instructions include performing at intervals: receiving acceleration data from the accelerometer; receiving orientation data from the gyroscope; combining the acceleration data and the orientation data to generate speed fluctuation and slope data for the vehicle; and transmitting the fluctuation and slope data to a controller of the vehicle. The controller utilizes the speed fluctuation and slope data to modulate an engine throttle of the vehicle.

A power control system may include at least one of batteries, a motor, and a data logic analyzer that can interpret certain variable conditions of a transport, such as a tractor trailer, moving along a road or highway. The data can be used to determine when to apply supplemental power to the wheels of a trailer to reduce fuel usage. One example device may include at least one of a power source affixed to a trailer to capture energy from movement of an axle of the trailer, and a motor powered by the power source to operate and provide movement assistance to the axle.

A display device also includes an available amount-of-fuel calculator for calculating an available amount of fuel, an average mileage calculator for calculating an average mileage from a consumed amount of fuel and a vehicle's traveled distance, an available travel distance calculator for calculating an available travel distance from the available amount of fuel and the average mileage, and a display unit for displaying the available travel distance. The available amount-of-fuel calculator uses a learned value based on outputs as a corrective value for correcting the output of a second sensor when the calculation of the available amount of fuel switches from being based on the output of the second sensor to being based on the output of a first sensor.