A method for having a vehicle follow a desired curvature path is provided. The vehicle has at least one differential with a differential lock connected to at least one driven wheel axle of the vehicle. The method includes providing information regarding state of the differential lock, the state being either that the differential lock is activated or unlocked, and when the differential lock is activated, calculating a yaw moment of the vehicle caused by the differential lock; and compensating for a deviation from the desired curvature path caused by the yaw moment such that a resulting steering angle is equal to or less than a maximum allowed steering angle of the vehicle. The compensation is a feed forward compensation.

A power steering device for an axle assembly provided with a limited-slip differential designed to transmit a drive torque to a first and second wheel and to automatically activate, in the event of a loss of synchronism and/or of grip of one of the first and second wheels, an operating mode referred to as lockup mode in which differential transfers most of the driving torque to the slower of the first and second wheels, the power steering also including a steering mechanism and a power steering motor controlled by a control module, steering control module containing compensation laws which allow the power steering motor to compensate for certain effects, such as alternating load backup or freezing, induced in the steering mechanism by activation of the differential lockup mode, so as to give the driver a feel close to that of an axle assembly that does not have a lockup mode.

Disclosed is a method for control of a vehicle with a drive system comprising a planetary gear and a first and second electrical machine, connected with their rotors to the components of the planetary gear, a braking of the vehicle towards stop occurs by way of a distribution of the desired braking torque between the first and the second electrical machines, and wherein such electrical machines are controlled to transmit a total torque to an output shaft of the planetary gear, which corresponds to the desired braking torque at least to one predetermined low speed limit, before the vehicle stops.

A utility vehicle and a method of operating a utility vehicle having a rear axle driven by a drive engine, a rear axle differential on the rear axle, and a front axle that is configured to be switched on to perform four-wheel drive are provided. The method includes activating a differential lock for locking the rear axle differential on the basis of at least one of a rear axle slippage variable, which characterizes a drive slippage occurring at the rear axle, an engine power of the drive engine, a status of at least one brake device associated with the rear axle, and a status regarding the four-wheel drive.

Signals including noise at a constant interval are processed by receiving a signal as a result of detection by a sensor and sampling the received signal at an interval shorter than the interval of the noise; extracting a plurality of the sampled signals at an interval that is half of the interval of the noise; calculating an arithmetic mean value on a group of the extracted signals; and outputting a new signal being generated with the arithmetic mean value.

A power steering device for an axle assembly provided with a limited-slip differential designed to transmit a drive torque to a first and second wheel and to automatically activate, in the event of a loss of synchronism and/or of grip of one of the first and second wheels, an operating mode referred to as lockup mode in which differential transfers most of the driving torque to the slower of the first and second wheels, the power steering also including a steering mechanism and a power steering motor controlled by a control module, steering control module containing compensation laws which allow the power steering motor to compensate for certain effects, such as alternating load backup or freezing, induced in the steering mechanism by activation of the differential lockup mode, so as to give the driver a feel close to that of an axle assembly that does not have a lockup mode.

A drive system for a vehicle comprises two electrical machines arranged between a combustion engine and an input shaft to a gearbox. The first machine's rotor and the input shaft of the gearbox are each connected to a separate component of a planetary gear. The second electrical machine's rotor is connected with the output shaft of the combustion engine, which is connected with another component of the planetary gear. A first locking means may be moved between a locked position, in which the planetary gear's three components rotate at the same rotational speed, and a release position, allowing for different rotational speeds. A second locking means is moveable between a locked position, in which the output shaft of the combustion engine is locked together with the second machine's rotor and a release position, in which the combustion engine's output shaft is disconnected from the second machine's rotor.

In a method for controlling a vehicle with a drive system comprising a power unit configuration adapted to provide output for the vehicle's operation, and further comprising a planetary gear and a first and second electrical machine, connected to components in the planetary gear via their rotors, a locking means is moved from a locked position, in which two of the planetary gear's components are locked together, so that the three components of the planetary gear rotate with the same speed, to a release position, when the vehicle is driven with the locking means in a locked position, by carrying out the following method steps. The power unit configuration is controlled in order to achieve torque balance between the components that are locked together by the locking means, and such locking means are moved into a release position, when said torque balance prevails.

A lane departure prevention apparatus (17) has: a departure preventing device (172) for control a braking apparatus (122) to perform a departure prevention operation by applying yaw moment (M.sub.tgt) to a vehicle (1), wherein the yaw moment is generated by a difference of the braking forces between right wheels (121FR, 121RR) and left wheels (121FL, 121RL)1; and a controlling device (173) for controlling the departure prevention device so that the braking force applied to driving wheels (121RL, 121RR) becomes smaller and the braking force applied to non-driving wheels (121FL, 121FR) becomes larger when the departure prevention operation is performed and a differential apparatus (132) limits a differential rotation, compared to a case where the departure prevention operation is performed and the differential apparatus does not limit the differential rotation.

A lane departure prevention apparatus (17) has: a departure preventing device (172) for control a braking apparatus (122) to perform a departure prevention operation by applying yaw moment (M.sub.tgt) to a vehicle (1), wherein the yaw moment is generated by a difference of the braking forces between right wheels (121FR, 121RR) and left wheels (121FL, 121RL)1; and a controlling device (173) for controlling the departure prevention device so that the braking force applied to driving wheels (121RL, 121RR) becomes smaller and the braking force applied to non-driving wheels (121FL, 121FR) becomes larger when the departure prevention operation is performed and a differential apparatus (132) limits a differential rotation, compared to a case where the departure prevention operation is performed and the differential apparatus does not limit the differential rotation.