A device for controlling driving of an electric four-wheel drive vehicle at the time of shift is provided. The device controls driving of an electric four-wheel drive vehicle to minimize energy loss occurring on a power transmission path during shift, thereby improving fuel efficiency.

The present invention relates to a method for operating a motor vehicle. A request for coupling a power take-off is detected. It is checked (12) whether relevant boundary conditions for coupling the power take-off are fulfilled. If the boundary conditions are fulfilled, a system pressure for actuating the power take-off clutch is built up (16). It is checked (18) whether sufficient system pressure to actuate the power take-off clutch has been built up. When sufficient system pressure has been built up, a confirmation signal is produced (20). In reaction to the confirmation signal, a driving transmission control unit is modified (34) in order to actuate the at least one shifting element of the driving transmission with a higher actuation pressure than with an unmodified driving transmission control unit.

A control system for a hybrid vehicle configured to reduce fuel consumption. A controller is configured to execute a first determination to determine that a required power is less than a reference power, and a second determination to determine that a condition to start an engine is satisfied. If the answers of the first determination and the second determination are YES, a target power of the engine is set to a predetermined power which is greater than the required power, and which can be generated by consuming smaller amount of fuel. Then, the generator is driven by the engine being operated to achieve the predetermined power, and an electric power generated by the generator to be accumulated in a battery is set to a value calculated based on a difference between the target power and the required power.

An apparatus comprising an interface, a memory and a processor. The interface may be configured to receive sensor data samples during operation of a vehicle. The memory may be configured to store the sensor data samples over a number of points in time. The processor may be configured to analyze the sensor data samples stored in the memory to detect a pattern. The processor may be configured to manage an application of brakes of the vehicle in response to the pattern.

A driving assistance method applied to a vehicle is provided. The method includes capturing at least one image of occupants of the vehicle using a camera module. Once occupant attributes of the vehicle are recognized based on the captured image, a driving mode of the vehicle is changed based on the occupant attributes of the vehicle.

A method for detecting combustion irregularities in an internal combustion engine unit coupled to an electric propulsion unit of a hybrid motor vehicle having a management unit, consisting in intermittently measuring a pair of values P, θ that are respectively representative of the value P of the power consumed by the electric engine and of the value θ of the speed of the combustion engine, in comparing each pair of measured values P, θ with a pair of theoretical values Pth, θth corresponding to the setpoint data delivered by the management unit, and, when there is a lack of correspondence between at least one of the measured values P, θ and the associated theoretical value Pth, θth, triggering a synchronization procedure intended to determine the phasing of the internal combustion engine.

A vehicle and method for controlling a vehicle having a traction battery and an internal combustion engine include adapting a power limitation of the internal combustion engine by sensing a currently supplied power level of the internal combustion engine and a current velocity of the vehicle, sensing an ambient temperature of the vehicle and determining an associated ambient-temperature-related weighting factor, sensing an ambient air pressure and determining an associated air-pressure-related weighting factor, determining a thermal load indicator as a function of a ratio of the sensed currently supplied power and the sensed current velocity as well as of the ambient-temperature-related weighting factor, the air-pressure-related weighting factor, and a vehicle-bodywork-related weighting factor, and limiting a maximum supplied power level of the internal combustion engine as a function of the determined thermal load indicator.

A drive assistance device (24) for a saddle type vehicle (1) includes a ride sensor (37) configured to detect a ride attitude of a rider (J), a vehicle body behavior generating part (25) configured to generate a behavior on a vehicle body by a prescribed output, and a controller (27) configured to control driving of the vehicle body behavior generating part (25), and wherein, when the vehicle body behavior generating part (25) is actuated regardless of the operation of the rider (J), the controller (27) firstly controls the vehicle body behavior generating part (25) such that a low output that is lower than a predetermined original target output is generated as a predictive action, and sets an output value after that according to a change of detection information of the ride sensor (37) generated by the low output.

Disclosed are a charging control method and system for a range extend electric vehicle, and the electric vehicle. The control method includes: presetting a first threshold value and a second threshold value and executing the following steps: when the electric quantity of a battery is lower than the second threshold value, performing forced charging on the battery; when the electric quantity of the battery is lower than the first threshold value and higher than the second threshold value, proceeding to a subsequent step to determine whether Pv+Pb.sub.1>Pu is met, Pv, Pb.sub.1 and Pu respectively representing current vehicle driving required power, minimum required charging power of the battery and maximum power of a high efficiency running range of an engine; if not, determining the time as an optimal charging time, controlling the engine to increase the power to Pu, and charging the battery with a power of Pu−Pv; and if so, skipping performing charging, and predicting an optimal charging time for charging according to a terrain condition or road environment ahead. On the basis of the above charging control method, the optimal charging time of the range extend electric vehicle can be predicted, ensuring that the engine runs in a high efficiency power range while charging the battery, and achieving better economic efficiency.

In a system having a hybrid powertrain having a piston internal combustion engine, and a motor/generator, and the motor generator being coupleable to a clutch and thereby to a gearbox, the engine further being equipped with a valvetrain control system operable to change the engine valve operation between a first mode in which the engine can operate in a conventional internal combustion mode and a second mode in which pumping losses are reduced when the engine is not operating in a conventional internal combustion mode. This allows it to be rotated without generating power, in a hybrid mode, with minimal losses.