The present disclosure relates to an apparatus and method for controlling a lift axle of a vehicle. To assist with braking according to an operation of a forward collision avoidance (FCA) system by using the lift axle in an emergency braking situation, the vehicle lift axle control apparatus includes a lift axle actuator that drives the lift axle of the vehicle, an interworking device that interworks with the FCA system, and a controller that controls the lift axle actuator based on information obtained from the FCA system.

A damping control apparatus includes a control device for controlling actuators that generate forces acting between a vehicle body and wheels. The control device stores a single wheel model of a vehicle including a skyhook device having a damper, a spring and an inerter. The control device calculates a product of an acceleration detected by an acceleration sensor and an equivalent mass of the inerter, a product of a once integrated value of the acceleration and a damping coefficient of the damper, a product of a twice integrated value of the acceleration and, a spring constant of the spring as target damping forces to be applied to a sprung mass, and controls the actuators based on target generative forces based on the target damping forces.

A vehicle height control apparatus includes an information acquisition device that acquires pressure data on a pressure inside an air tank storing compressed air and obstacle data on an obstacle in front of a vehicle, and a controller that calculates a target vehicle height based on the obstacle data, calculates a required distance required to reach the target vehicle height based on the pressure of the compressed air inside the air tank, and determines a vehicle height control timing, resolving a problem that the vehicle height is unnecessarily quickly controlled compared to the position of the obstacle, or is controlled after the vehicle passes through the obstacle to reduce the ride comfort.

A method, system and non-transitory computer readable medium for multi-stage communication between an autonomous vehicle and a road user. The autonomous vehicle uses vehicle external cameras, a LiDAR sensors and radar sensors to image the surrounding environment. Image processing circuitry is used to develop a view of the surrounding environment from the sensed images and the view is combined with stored map data. Road users, which may include pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists and non-autonomous vehicles are identified on the view and it is determined whether the movement of the road user will intersect the trajectory of the autonomous vehicle. The autonomous vehicle performs a vehicle behavior modification as a first stage signal to alert the road user of its intent. If the road user does not react to the first stage signal, the autonomous vehicle activates additional external lighting as a second stage signal to alert the road user.

A vehicle attitude control apparatus is provided in which an active suspension device of each wheel has a mass body arranged between a sprung mass and an unsprung mass of a vehicle, and upper and lower actuators each configured to generate an actively generated force acting on the sprung and unsprung masses, respectively, by applying urging forces to the masses, and a control unit calculates a target braking/driving force of each braking/driving device for achieving target motion state quantities of the vehicle, target actively generated forces of the upper and lower actuators, and controls a braking/driving device and the upper and lower actuators, so that the target braking/driving force and the target actively generated forces of the upper and lower actuators are achieved.

Aspects of the present invention relate to a method and to a control system for controlling an active suspension of a vehicle comprising a vehicle body and a plurality of wheels, the control system comprising one or more controllers, the control system configured to: receive information indicative of a requirement for ingress/egress of passengers and/or cargo; receive information indicative that the ingress/egress is to occur with the vehicle on a sloped surface; and control the active suspension to reduce an angle of the vehicle body relative to horizontal, for the ingress/egress on the sloped surface.

A suspension system (vehicle) includes: an air suspension that is inserted between a vehicle body and each of wheels and that is capable of extending and contracting by means of pressure of working fluid; a compressed air control unit that controls the working fluid; an electric power supplier that supplies electric power to the compressed air control unit; and a power saver that stops flow of the working fluid when abnormality occurs in the electric power supplier. When a vehicle has a predetermined vehicle height, the power saver stops the flow of the working fluid, and when the vehicle has a vehicle height other than the predetermined vehicle height, the power saver allows the working fluid to flow until the vehicle height reaches the predetermined vehicle height, and then stops the flow of the working fluid.

An agricultural vehicle is provided herein that includes a chassis operably coupled with a powertrain control system. A boom assembly is operably coupled with the chassis. One or more nozzles is positioned along the boom assembly. A flow control assembly is configured to selectively dispense an agricultural product from a tank through the one or more nozzles. A controller is operably coupled with the powertrain control system and the boom assembly. The controller includes a processor and associated memory with the memory storing instructions that, when implemented by the processor, configure the controller to receive instructions to accelerate or decelerate the vehicle and alter a flow rate of the agricultural product through actuation of the flow control assembly in response to receiving instructions to accelerate or decelerate the vehicle.

A controller as a control apparatus controls a shock absorber of a control target wheel (a rear wheel) located in back of a detection target portion (a front wheel) of an unsprung acceleration sensor based on a detection value detected by the unsprung acceleration sensor on the front wheel side provided on a vehicle. In this case, the controller identifies a movement distance (a delay distance) from the detection target portion (the front wheel) and controls the shock absorber of the control target wheel (the rear wheel) located in back thereof based on the detection value of the unsprung acceleration sensor and a vehicle speed for each control period.

A control apparatus for a suspension apparatus includes: an acquisition section which acquires a stroke amount of the suspension apparatus disposed between a vehicle body and a wheel to damp vibration propagated from the wheel; a calculation section which calculates a stroke velocity based on the stroke amount; and a damping force control section which controls damping force of the suspension apparatus based on the stroke velocity. The calculation section includes a first calculation section which differentiates the stroke amount by use of a first time constant as a time constant, to thereby calculate a first stroke velocity, and a second calculation section which differentiates the stroke amount by use of a second time constant larger than the first time constant as a time constant, to thereby calculate a second stroke velocity, and calculates the stroke velocity based on the first stroke velocity and the second stroke velocity.