The invention provides a method and system for a vehicle to shift between an autonomous mode and a manual mode, and vice versa. This shifting is dependent on multiple criteria, including but not limited to extra weight/items/property inside the vehicle, passengers inside the vehicle, one or more sensors and/or counters, whether the vehicle is in park, and whether the vehicle is entirely empty. The invention also includes several components such as users, vehicles, a central processor, and maintenance/central stations. According to one embodiment, no passengers are permitted on board the vehicle when it is in autonomous mode, and the vehicle will be on the road for an extended and longer amount of time compared to rental vehicles because the vehicles can automatically drive to a new user/recipient or towards a maintenance station, thus utilizing the time during which the vehicle would otherwise be idle.

The present disclosure relates to a method for controlling a driveline of a vehicle, the driveline being operable in a plurality of driveline operating modes, wherein the driveline is configured to assume a current driveline operating mode basing its operation on topology data from a positioning system, each driveline operating mode being associated with a predefined driveline operating condition, wherein the method comprises obtaining a signal indicative of a loss of topology data; and controlling the driveline to change from the current driveline operating mode to an updated driveline operating mode providing an increased operational capacity of the driveline compared to the current driveline operating mode.

Methods and systems for autonomous vehicle recharging or refueling are disclosed. Autonomous electric vehicles may be automatically recharged by routing the vehicles to available charging stations when not in operation, according to methods described herein. A charge level of the battery of an autonomous electric vehicle may be monitored until it reaches a recharging threshold, at which point an on-board computer may generate a predicted use profile for the vehicle. Based upon the predicted use profile, a time and location for the vehicle to recharge may be determined. In some embodiments, the vehicle may be controlled to automatically travel to a charging station, recharge the battery, and return to its starting location in order to recharge when not in use.

A transportation vehicle, a traffic control entity, a method, a computer program, and an apparatus for adapting a speed of transportation vehicles in a platoon. The method for adapting a speed of transportation vehicles in a platoon includes obtaining information related to a future course of required minimum inter-vehicular distances of the transportation vehicles of the platoon. The method also includes adapting a speed of the transportation vehicles of the platoon based on the information related to the future course of the required minimum inter-vehicular distances and a fuel consumption of the transportation vehicles of the platoon.

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to an autonomous vehicle and a system for the autonomous vehicle. The system may include: a power supply including a first power output and a second power output; a master computing unit arranged to be powered by the first power output, configured to control operations of the autonomous vehicle in response to detecting the second power output, and configured to provide a third power output by adjusting the first power output; and a slave computing unit arranged to be powered by the second power output, and configured to control the operations of the autonomous vehicle in response to detecting a failure of the master computing unit.

A vehicle control apparatus is provided. The apparatus comprises a generator that generates electricity using an engine as a motive power source; a battery that stores electricity that has been generated by the generator; a drive unit that drives a vehicle with a motor that uses the battery as an electric power source; and a control unit, wherein the control unit stops the engine when the vehicle is inside a predetermined engine operation prohibition area and when a remaining level of the battery is equal to or higher than a first threshold, and the engine is started when the remaining level of the battery is lower than a second threshold.

Method and device for optimized autonomous driving, wherein a trajectory for the actuation of the vehicle is determined. A profile of the trajectory is defined by a bending line of a bending band. The bending line is preferably determined by the finite element method, in particular according to the principle of virtual shifting, and achieves an optimization goal and satisfies a boundary condition. The boundary condition is defined in accordance with a profile of a roadway for the vehicle. The optimization goal is defined by a desired driving property of the vehicle.

Systems and methods to control an autonomous vehicle to travel from an origin to a destination include determining a route between the origin and the destination using a map. A method includes determining an initial path along the route by optimizing a first cost function, the first cost function including a static cost component at a first set of locations along the route, and the static cost component at each location among the first set of locations along the route corresponding to a change in field of view of one or more sensors of the autonomous vehicle resulting from one or more static obstructions at the location that are indicated on the map. The method also includes controlling the autonomous vehicle to begin the travel on the route along the initial path.

An automated driving method for a vehicle includes: determining whether or not a traffic jam is detected ahead of a host vehicle by a distance equal to or more than a predetermined distance on a travel route of the host vehicle during travel by automated driving that brings a vehicle speed close to a target vehicle speed; and in a traffic jam detection time when the traffic jam is detected, reducing the vehicle speed VSP to be lower than a target vehicle speed VSPt0 for the automated driving in a normal time other than the traffic jam detection time.

A driver assistance method for a vehicle includes the steps of establishing an energy prediction for a route on the basis of an anticipated driver behavior, determining a driving behavior which is optimized with regard to the energy prediction, and outputting an action recommendation on the basis of the optimized driving behavior.