A method for operating a drive apparatus including an internal combustion engine and an electric engine. An output shaft of the drive apparatus can be operatively connected to the internal combustion engine by way of a shifting clutch and can be permanently operatively connected to the electric engine, so that the output shaft is disengaged from the internal combustion engine in a first shifting state of the shifting clutch and is engaged with it in a second shifting state.

When an output limitation value of a battery is equal to or less than a threshold, an electronic control unit determines that basic torque is able to be output from a second motor to a drive shaft. Then, the electronic control unit sets a predetermined value as a target motoring rotation speed for ending motoring of an engine by a first motor. When the output limitation value is greater than the threshold, the electronic control unit determines that the basic torque is unable to be output from the second motor to the drive shaft at the time of starting the engine, and sets a value smaller than the predetermined value as the target motoring rotation speed.

A method for improving operation of a vehicle that includes an engine, a transmission, and a torque converter clutch is disclosed. In one example, the method assesses whether or not driver braking is expected and adjusts driveline braking accordingly. The method freewheels the driveline to extend vehicle coasting when driver braking is not expected and the method increases or decreases driveline braking based on a closing distance between the vehicle and an object in the vehicle's path.

When a brake is turned on during travel of a hybrid vehicle, a required braking force required for a drive shaft is set based on a brake depression amount, a base rotation speed of an engine is set based on the required braking force, a shift stage is set based on the base rotation speed and a vehicle speed, a target rotation speed of the engine is set based on the shift stage and the vehicle speed, and the engine, the first motor, and the second motor are controlled such that the engine operates at the target rotation speed and the required braking force acts on the drive shaft.

A hybrid electric vehicle includes an internal combustion engine, a traction battery, and a hybrid electric powertrain including an electric motor powered by the traction battery and an electric generator coupled to the internal combustion engine and the traction battery. A control method includes determining minimum and maximum engine power limits based on desired wheel torque and traction battery charge and discharge power limits. A generator torque command is calculated to track engine speed to the desired engine speed. The generator torque command is limited based on the minimum and maximum engine power limits to limit engine power transmitted to the powertrain.

A vehicle (100) includes a support control unit (111) that supports avoidance of a. collision with an object and a support suppressing unit (112) that suppresses the support of the support control unit (111) when a steering angle of the vehicle (100) is equal to or greater than a predetermined angle. The vehicle (100) further includes an intervention limiting unit (113) that determines whether the support suppression of the support suppressing unit (112) is necessary when the steering angle is equal to or greater than the predetermined angle on the basis of vehicle information acquired from the vehicle (100) or a running environment of the vehicle (100) and that limits intervention of the support suppression of the support suppressing unit (112) depending on the determination result.

A hybrid drive system has a battery and a combustion engine for energy sources. The system has a traction motor, a generator, a variable voltage converter (VVC), a motor inverter, a generator inverter, a bus coupling the VVC to the inverters, and a controller. The controller regulates engine speed, motor torque, and generator torque. The engine speed is determined according to a driver torque demand. In normal conditions, 1) the controller regulates the engine speed by modifying a generator torque command, and 2) the bus voltage is regulated using the VVC and battery. When the controller detects a fault in which the battery and VVC become unavailable for regulating the bus voltage, then the controller regulates a motor inverter power output to match a sum of a generator inverter power output and an estimated power loss of the inverters in order to regulate the bus voltage.

Systems and methods for starting an engine of a hybrid vehicle are described. In one example, the method starts an engine according to vehicle conditions that are within a range that is defined by one or more thresholds. The thresholds may be adjusted based on a history of individual driving patterns.

A vehicle driving control method includes: controlling, by a controller, a speed of an engine included in a vehicle and a torque of the engine so that fuel consumption of the vehicle is minimized in an acceleration section of the vehicle, based on gradient information of a road on which the vehicle is being driven and an air resistance of the vehicle; and controlling, by the controller, the vehicle to perform coasting driving in a coasting driving section of the vehicle after a speed of the vehicle reaches a maximum speed of an operation mode, in which the vehicle is accelerated and then performs the coasting driving, by the control of the speed of the engine and the torque of the engine.

A transmission is provided having a control module, an input member, an output member, four planetary gear sets, a plurality of interconnecting members, and a plurality of torque transmitting devices. Each of the planetary gear sets includes first, second and third members. The torque transmitting devices include clutches and brakes. The control module includes a control logic sequence for performing a coasting downshift of the transmission.