The disclosure provides for a method for determining a route for passenger comfort and operating a vehicle according to the determined route. To start, a set of routes from a start location to an end location may be determined. Each route includes one or more portions. For each route of the set of routes, a total motion sickness value is determined based on a sway motion sickness value, a surge motion sickness value, and a heave motion sickness value for each of the given portions. The total motion sickness value for a route reflects a likelihood that a user will experience motion sickness while in a vehicle along the route. A route may then be selected from the set of routes based on the total motion sickness value of each route of the set of routes, and the vehicle may be maneuvered according to the selected route.

Systems and methods to improve ride comfort for users within a vehicle during operation of the vehicle are disclosed. Exemplary implementations may: generate output signals; determine the current operational information regarding the vehicle; determine a current set of forces operating on one or more of the vehicle and one or more of the users within the vehicle; compare a characteristic of the current set of forces to a comfort threshold level; and responsive to the characteristic breaching the comfort threshold level, effectuate a modification in the operation of the vehicle such that a subsequent change in the characteristic that corresponds to the modification reduces and/or remedies the breach of the comfort threshold level.

A vehicle drive system executes a basic drive force control in which a vehicle drive device applies, to an own vehicle, a drive force in accordance with a request of a driver, a first drive force changing control for changing the drive force applied in the basic drive force control, based on a variation in a wheel rotational speed, and a second drive force changing control for changing the drive force applied in the basic drive force control for a purpose different from a purpose of changing the drive force in the first drive force changing control. The first drive force changing control is configured such that a change amount of the drive force in the first drive force changing control is determined based on the wheel rotational speed from which is eliminated a variation in the wheel rotational speed caused by execution of the second drive force changing control.

An apparatus and a method for controlling a velocity of an autonomous driving vehicle is provided. The method includes steps of: obtaining information of an environment surrounding the vehicle when an obstacle is detected to be on a planning path of the vehicle; obtaining an initial reference velocity profile of the vehicle; determining a safety factor based on the initial reference velocity profile, the information of the environment and information of the vehicle, wherein the safety factor at least comprises a safety distance between the vehicle and the obstacle for the vehicle to follow the obstacle; determining an optimized reference velocity profile based on the information of the environment, the information of the vehicle and the safety factor; and performing the step of determining the safety factor by using the optimized reference velocity profile as the initial reference velocity profile and the step of determining the optimized reference velocity iteratively.

A behavior control device for a vehicle includes: a first actuator configured to apply a vertical control force to a left wheel on a first axle, the first axle being a front axle or a rear axle of the vehicle; a second actuator configured to operate independently of the first actuator and to apply a vertical control force to a right wheel on the first axle; and a controller. The controller is configured to calculate a required value of a behavior parameter representing a behavior of the vehicle, convert the required value of the behavior parameter to a first required force for the first actuator and a second required force for the second actuator, and control the first actuator such that the vertical control force applied to the left wheel on the first axle becomes the first required force.

A control device for a vehicle is provided, which includes a power source that generates torque for driving or braking the vehicle, an accelerator pedal sensor that detects an operating amount of an accelerator pedal, and a control unit that controls the power source. The control unit sets a target acceleration based on the accelerator pedal operating amount detected by the accelerator pedal sensor. The control unit sets a target jerk based on the target acceleration, and when the target acceleration increases toward 0 from a value below 0, sets the target jerk so that the target jerk becomes smaller as the target acceleration approaches 0. The control unit sets torque to be outputted or regenerated by the power source, based on the target acceleration and the target jerk.

An apparatus for controlling a direction and speed of travel an autonomous vehicle or driver assisted autonomous vehicle (AV). A GPS and map module receive a start location and a destination location for the AV. A plurality of sensors identify a current and a proposed lane for the AV. A database of AV baseline maneuver profiles used to control one or more of direction and speed of travel of the AV is provided. A trajectory profile generator module generates a planned path for the AV with lateral acceleration less than 2 Hz, based on the start location, the destination location, the current and proposed lane for the AV, and a selected AV baseline maneuver profile from the database. A steering control module controls the direction of travel of the AV based on the generated AV planned path, and a supervisory control module controls the speed of the AV based on the generated AV planned path and inner ear constraints.

A drive force control apparatus includes a drive force control section that has a steady drive force, a filtered drive force obtained by performing a filtering process on the steady drive force, and an internal drive force, which is calculated from a traction requested drive force, input thereto, and sets a target drive force based on the steady drive force, the filtered drive force, and the internal drive force. The drive force control section implements post-operation processing after control for causing the internal drive force to be the target drive force ends. In the post-operation processing, a new internal drive force, which is calculated based on a large-small relationship among the steady drive force, the filtered drive force, and the previously calculated internal drive force, is set as the target drive force.

A controller and a method for controlling motion of a vehicle is provided. The method comprises acquiring motion information including a current state of the vehicle and a desired state of the vehicle, determining a combination of a steering angle of the wheels and motor forces for moving the vehicle from the current state into the desired state by using a first model of the motion of the vehicle and a second model of the motion of the chassis of the vehicle, determining a cost function of the motion of the vehicle, optimizing the cost function of the motion of the vehicle to compute a command signal for controlling the steering wheel and the plurality of electric motors, and controlling the steering angle of the wheels and the motor forces based on the command signal.

A driving assistance apparatus assists a driver of a vehicle by performing a deceleration control to decelerate the vehicle when the vehicle makes a right turn or a left turn at an intersection. The driving assistance apparatus is configured to make a magnitude of a deceleration of a vehicle while performing a deceleration control of when a left-or-right-turn-condition is not satisfied smaller than a magnitude of a deceleration of the vehicle while performing the deceleration control of when the left-or-right-turn-condition is satisfied, in a case where a distance between the vehicle and the intersection is equal to or shorter than a distance threshold and the vehicle is predicted to change a moving direction to a particular direction, the left-or-right-turn-condition being a condition that is satisfied when the vehicle is permitted to change the moving direction to the particular direction in/from a traveling lane in which the vehicle is running.