A method for operating a vehicle that includes a passenger is described. In one example, the method adjusts vehicle suspension and exhaust system sound in response to characteristics of the passenger that are monitored via a camera and a microphone. The method may operate the vehicle suspension and exhaust system in a way that soothes the passenger.

A system for controlling the stability of a vehicle equipped with semi-active dampers includes: an actuator, a plurality of sensors, a low-level control unit, a high-level control unit and a mid-level control unit adapted to execute an algorithm for calculating a damping level (C.sub.ref).

A method for operating a vehicle that includes a passenger is described. In one example, the method adjusts vehicle suspension and exhaust system sound in response to characteristics of the passenger that are monitored via a camera and a microphone. The method may operate the vehicle suspension and exhaust system in a way that sooths the passenger.

A powertrain for a vehicle may include a vehicle chassis, a rotatable vehicle drive axle, at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor having a rotatable motor shaft rotatable about an axis defined by the rotatable vehicle drive axle, a motor actuator connected to the at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor, and a control system in communication with the motor actuator. The control system may include a memory device in communication with the control system having instructions that when executed by the control system causes the control system to receive at least one input from at least one sensor and instruct the motor actuator to rotate the at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor based on the at least one input from the sensor.

Suspension systems for recreational vehicles are disclosed. The suspension systems may include at least one adjustable member coupling a sway bar to respective suspensions. The suspension systems may include a torque actuator associated with a sway bar.

Presented herein are systems and methods for controlling a response (e.g., a roll, a pitch) of a vehicle body to a driver input. In one aspect, a method for controlling the response of the vehicle body is presented, the method comprising receiving an input (e.g., a steering wheel input, a pedal input) from an operator of a vehicle and modifying an aspect (e.g., a roll angle, a pitch angle, a roll rate, a pitch rate) of the response of the vehicle body, the modified aspect having a value based, at least partially, on the input. In another aspect, a controlled vehicle is presented comprising a vehicle body and one or more actuators configured to apply a torque to the vehicle body, the torque having a direction and/or magnitude based, at least partially, on a driver input (e.g. steering command, braking command, and/or acceleration command).

provided is an information processing device comprising: a map database in which a control parameter for controlling the behavior of the vehicle is recorded for each vehicle type at each point on a road; a data reading unit that acquires vehicle information including at least vehicle type information and positional information of the vehicle and reads the control parameter corresponding to the travel point of the vehicle from the map database based on the vehicle information; a parameter setting unit that sets an application control parameter to be applied to control of the vehicle based on the control parameter read by the data reading unit; and a data update unit that acquires an observation value related to the behavior of the vehicle controlled based on the application control parameter from the vehicle and updates the map database based on the observation value.

An apparatus for improving ride comfort of a vehicle includes: a sensing unit to sense whether an obstacle is present in a traveling direction of the vehicle and a quantity of behavior of the vehicle; a control value calculation unit to calculate control values for controlling the vehicle in a vertical direction and a pitch direction based on information sensed by the sensing unit; and a driving controller to control at least one of front wheels or rear wheels of the vehicle based on the calculated vertical-direction control values and pitch-direction control values. In particular, each of the vertical-direction control value and the pitch-direction control value includes a control value related to driving and braking the vehicle.

A method for operating a vehicle that includes a passenger is described. In one example, the method adjusts vehicle suspension and exhaust system sound in response to characteristics of the passenger that are monitored via a camera and a microphone. The method may operate the vehicle suspension and exhaust system in a way that sooths the passenger.

A powertrain for a vehicle may include a vehicle chassis, a rotatable vehicle drive axle, at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor having a rotatable motor shaft rotatable about an axis defined by the rotatable vehicle drive axle, a motor actuator connected to the at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor, and a control system in communication with the motor actuator. The control system may include a memory device in communication with the control system having instructions that when executed by the control system causes the control system to receive at least one input from at least one sensor and instruct the motor actuator to rotate the at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor based on the at least one input from the sensor.