An apparatus includes a generator and a control unit. The generator generates a vertical controlling force between a vehicle body and one wheel for damping a vehicle sprung mass vibration. The control unit changes the controlling force by controlling the generator based on an unsprung mass state quantity at an estimated passage position of the wheel at time after a predetermined time from current time; when a condition that a sprung mass of a sampling vehicle is highly likely to be resonating when the sampling vehicle passes through the estimated passage position is satisfied, compute a target controlling force based on a value less than the unsprung mass state quantity acquired by the sampling vehicle at the estimated passage position; and, at the time at which the wheel passes through the estimated passage position, control the generator such that a controlling force is equal to the target controlling force.

A damping control system for a vehicle having a suspension located between a plurality of ground engaging members and a vehicle frame includes at least one adjustable shock absorber having an adjustable damping profile.

A damping control system for a vehicle having a suspension located between a plurality of ground engaging members and a vehicle frame includes at least one adjustable shock absorber having an adjustable damping profile.

A modular electronic damping control system is described and includes a damping component located at a vehicle suspension location. The modular electronic damping control system also includes a control system configured to control the damping component, and determine the type of damping component present. Also, the control system is configured to automatically tune a vehicle's suspension based on the type of damping component present, and automatically monitor the damping component and determine when a change has been made to the damping component so that the control system can then automatically re-tune the vehicle's suspension based on the change to the damping component.

An actuator system for a vehicle suspension system including: an actuator having a piston and a first fluid chamber separated from a second fluid chamber by the piston; a hydraulic pump having a first port, a first hydraulic circuit operable to connect the first port to the first chamber, the first hydraulic circuit including a first valve, the first valve being a damper valve operable to variably restrict flow of hydraulic fluid out of the first chamber; a first hydraulic accumulator connected to a first gallery of the first hydraulic circuit between the first port and the first valve; a second hydraulic accumulator connected to a second port of the pump via a second gallery; and a second valve, the second valve being a variable pressure relief valve operable to variably restrict flow of hydraulic fluid from the first gallery to the second gallery.

An actuator system for a vehicle suspension system includes: an actuator having a piston and a first fluid chamber separated from a second fluid chamber by the piston; a hydraulic pump having a first port connected by a first hydraulic circuit to the first chamber via a first valve, the first valve being a damper valve operable to variably restrict flow of hydraulic fluid out of the first chamber; a first hydraulic accumulator connected to the first hydraulic circuit between the first port and the first valve; and a second hydraulic accumulator connected to the first port by a second valve, the second valve being a variable pressure relief valve operable to variably restrict flow of hydraulic fluid from the first port to the second hydraulic accumulator.

A ground plane detection system for a motor vehicle and a motor vehicle with enhanced maneuverability characteristics of a type including a frame structure, a pair of front road engaging wheels, a pair of rear road engaging wheels. The detection system includes, a body controller configured for determining a ground plane including receiving at least one of a GPS signal and an inertial navigation system signal. The body controller is further configured for providing a roll and a pitch signal with respect to the ground plane; and the body controller combining the signals with inputs from one or more sensors detecting displacement of the front and rear road engaging wheels. The body controller is also configured to determine a terrain plane reference to the ground plane, and providing control signals to cause the vehicle to undertake an earth level orientation mode or a terrain following orientation mode.

A vehicle height adjusting device includes a vehicle height adjusting unit, a prediction unit, and a vehicle height control unit. The vehicle height adjusting unit adjusts a vehicle height to one of a first state and a second state. In the first state, the vehicle height is set to a predetermined height, and in the second state, the vehicle height is set lower than the first state. The prediction unit predicts whether a drive battery (lower portion) of a vehicle interferes with a road surface in the second state. The vehicle height control unit controls the vehicle height adjusting unit to set the vehicle height to one of the first state and the second state. When the prediction unit predicts an interference between the drive battery of the vehicle and the road surface, the vehicle height adjusting unit restricts a transition from the first state to the second state.

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.

A modular electronic damping control system is described and includes a damping component located at a vehicle suspension location. The modular electronic damping control system also includes a control system configured to control the damping component, and determine the type of damping component present. Also, the control system is configured to automatically tune a vehicle's suspension based on the type of damping component present, and automatically monitor the damping component and determine when a change has been made to the damping component so that the control system can then automatically re-tune the vehicle's suspension based on the change to the damping component.