A trailer includes a battery and an axle or a tandem axle with wheels driven by way of electric motors. The battery supplies electricity to the electric motors during trailer travel, and a sensor detects forces on a coupling of the trailer in at least one of the following directions: longitudinal direction of the trailer and/or transverse direction of the trailer and/or perpendicular direction, and a controller controls the electric motors, so that a minimum and/or a maximum limit value is adhered to.

A mover is configured to be electromagnetically propelled along a track in a linear motor track system with a force that is calculated to include compensation for gravity. A multi-axis accelerometer arranged in each segment of the track can detect an orientation or angle of the track segment for determining gravity with respect to the particular section. As a result, if the track is at an incline, such as a ramp, a desired force for moving a mover along the track can be compensated to include gravity due to the incline for achieving a desired motion result. In addition, the detected orientation of the track can be compared to an expected orientation stored by a control program to avoid a loss of performance due to physical changes in the track not matching an expected/programmed configuration of the track.

Operation and motion control, by a vehicle's ADAS or AD features, is improved in ways suitable to EVs having higher driving and handling performance. The vehicle dynamic model for high rates of lateral acceleration (e.g., sharp cornering or taking curves having a small radius of curvature as faster speeds) is improved by one or more of optimizing time cornering stiffness with a sigmoid function and/or altering front/rear steering angle to account for roll steer and compliance steer, based on vehicle testing. Indicators for lane departure warning or collision warning, evasive steering, or emergency braking are therefore reliably extended to allow higher performance maneuvers.

The disclosure relates to a method to control torque distribution among a plurality of electric machines connected to at least one front wheel and at least one rear wheel of a vehicle during operation, comprising: acquiring the total torque requested; obtaining the most energy efficient torque distribution mode by using a loss model or loss map; evaluating the actual driving situation; determining if a mode switch is allowed depending on the actual driving situation; switching the torque distribution mode, if allowed; and preventing a mode switch, if not allowed.

A motion control device independently drives left and right wheels by calculating a wheel torque value from a difference between a reference vehicle state quantity or an operation instruction of a higher driving device and an actual vehicle state quantity regarding a motion and a posture of the vehicle, and controlling a plurality of motors based on the wheel torque value. The motion control device calculates a momentum error from a difference between a reference momentum based on wheel speed and a tire steering angle and an actual momentum based on the the motion and the posture of the vehicle, extracts a momentum error, calculates a wheel torque correction amount based on the extracted momentum error caused by the torque difference of the motor, adds the wheel torque correction amount to the wheel torque value, and outputs a wheel torque command to the plurality of motors.

A control system for a tiltable vehicle may include a motor controller configured to respond to backward or reverse operation of the vehicle by hindering a responsiveness of the control system (e.g., proportionally) and/or eventually disengaging a drive motor of the vehicle. Accordingly, a user may intuitively and safely dismount the vehicle by selectively commanding reverse operation. In some examples, the backward direction may be user-defined.

A vehicle includes: a battery; an electric motor to be actuated by electric energy stored in the battery; a switch coupled between the battery and the electric motor; an inertial sensor configured to output an acceleration signal; a controller configured to output a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal having a duty ratio according to an acceleration magnitude of the acceleration signal; and a switch driving circuit configured to generate a control current for controlling the switch based on the PWM signal.

An electric power assist system generates an appropriate level of assist power while an electric assist vehicle is running on a slope and includes an electric motor that generates an assist power to assist human power of a rider of the electric assist vehicle, a controller that controls a magnitude of the assist power to be generated by the electric motor, and an acceleration sensor that outputs an acceleration signal representing an acceleration in a travel direction of the electric assist vehicle. The controller acquires speed information representing a running speed of the electric assist vehicle based on an external signal, detects an inclination angle of a road surface based on the speed information and the acceleration signal, and causes the electric motor to generate an assist power of a magnitude in accordance with the inclination angle.

Presented are adaptive propulsion assist systems and control logic for manually-powered vehicles, methods for making/using such systems, and intelligent electric scooters with distributed sensing and control-loop feedback for adaptive e-assist operations. A method for regulating a propulsion assist system of a manually-powered vehicle includes a vehicle controller detecting a user contacting the vehicle's handlebar, responsively receiving sensor signals indicative of a user-applied force to the handlebar, and then determining a net user-applied force based on the handlebar force and user-generated forces applied to the scooter deck. The vehicle controller also receives sensor signals indicative of the vehicle's current acceleration, and determines therefrom a pitch angle of the surface on which the vehicle moves. Responsive to the net force being greater than zero and the pitch angle being greater than a calibrated threshold angle, the controller commands the traction motor to increase motor torque output by a calibrated force gain increment.

A rotatable LIDAR device including contactless electrical couplings is disclosed. An example rotatable LIDAR device includes a vehicle electrical coupling including (i) a first conductive ring, (ii) a second conductive ring, and (iii) a first coil. The example rotatable LIDAR device further includes a LIDAR electrical coupling including (i) a third conductive ring, (ii) a fourth conductive ring, and (iii) a second coil. The example rotatable LIDAR device still further includes a rotatable LIDAR electrically coupled to the LIDAR electrical coupling. The first conductive ring and the third conductive ring form a first capacitor configured to transmit communications to the rotatable LIDAR, the second conductive ring and the fourth conductive ring form a second capacitor configured to transmit communications from the rotatable LIDAR, and the first coil and the second coil form a transformer configured to provide power to the rotatable LIDAR.