Systems and methods are provided to modularizing a device. In various embodiments, the harness in provided that accommodates many different configurations of the modules. The harness may function as a single element that needs to be replaced and/or connected to accommodate different configurations of modules. The harness may be modular. In various embodiments, unused lines of the harness are capped. In various embodiments, the cap completes a circuit, so that the control system interprets the systems as functioning despite the unused line, whereas the control system may shutdown the system is the unused line is left uncapped. In various embodiments, the harness is used to send control signals to elements of parallel power systems that have high voltage systems that are electronically isolated from one another.

A method for communicating between multiple components of an event chain for an at least semi-automated driving function of a motor vehicle, the multiple components being communication users of a publish-subscriber network. The method includes: publishing a first message with the aid of a first component of the multiple components, sending the first message to a second component of the multiple components and receiving the first message with the aid of the second component. An event chain for an at least semi-automated driving function of a motor vehicle, a computer program, and a machine-readable memory medium, are also described.

A method for executing a driving task in a decentralized control unit system and a decentralized control unit system are provided. The control unit system includes at least two control units that are designed as senders, and at least one control unit that is designed as a receiver. The at least two senders and the at least one receiver in each case have activity states and operating states. The two senders and the receiver in each case check their own activity states. The two senders’ own activity states are compared to the receiver’s own activity state. An evaluation of operating states is carried out if the two senders’ and the receiver’s own activity states are in each case error-free. The driving task is executed if one of the two senders and the receiver in each case has a dynamic operating state.

A control apparatus includes a processor that determines whether an ice generation condition is satisfied on the basis of at least one or both of a state of a heat source of a vehicle and an outside air temperature after an operation stop of a drive source of the vehicle. If the ice generation condition is satisfied, the processor repeats an ice-crushing operation at a predetermined time interval in a predetermine ice-crushing time period by turning on and thereafter turning off the relay. The predetermined ice-crushing time period is determined on the basis of a temperature difference between a temperature of the fixed contact or the movable contact of the relay and a temperature of an internal atmosphere inside the relay. The predetermined time interval is a time period in which the ice on the fixed contact and the movable contact of the relay grows to a predetermined size.

One object is to enable a preparation period for switching between modes in automated driving to be provided for a vehicle occupant. A vehicle control system includes an automated driving control unit that automatically controls at least one of acceleration/deceleration and steering of a host vehicle, the automated driving control unit performing automated driving control in any one of a plurality of modes having different degrees of automated driving, a detection unit that detects a state of an occupant in the host vehicle, an output unit that outputs notification information on the automated driving control, and a notification condition changing unit that changes a notification condition for outputting the notification information according to the state of the occupant detected by the detection unit.

Systems and method are provided for charging batteries of a vehicle. In one embodiment, a method includes: determining, by a processor, a state of charge of batteries of the vehicle; autonomously controlling, by a processor, the vehicle to a slot of a charging station based on the state of charge; and communicating, by a processor, with the charging station to coordinate autonomous charging of the batteries of the vehicle.

This disclosure presents an assisted driving vehicle system, including autonomous, semi-autonomous, and technology assisted vehicles, that can share sensor data among two or more controllers. A sensor can have one communication channel to a controller, thereby saving cabling and circuitry costs. The data from the sensor can be sent from one controller to another controller to enable redundancy and backup in case of a system failure. Sensor data from more than one sensor can be aggregated at one controller prior to the aggregated sensor data being communicated to another controller thereby saving bandwidth and reducing transmission times. The sharing of sensor data can be enabled through the use of a sensor data distributor, such as a converter, repeater, or a serializer/deserializer set located as part of the controller and communicatively coupled to another such device in another controller using a data interface communication channel.

An in-vehicle network system includes a power supply, an upper electronic control unit (ECU), an intermediate ECU configured to communicate with the upper ECU, and a plurality of lower ECUs configured to communicate with the intermediate ECU. The intermediate ECU is configured to receive power supplied from the power supply and supply the power supplied from the power supply to the lower ECUs. The lower ECUs are configured to transition, when the power is supplied from the intermediate ECU, from a power-off state to a standby state to wait for an instruction. The power supply is connected to the intermediate ECU via a power line and is not connected via the same power line to the upper ECU.

A system for providing communication and control for a Light Electric Vehicle (LEV) over a power line is provided. The system includes a microprocessor, an interface, a heater controller, a data coupler, and an external connector interface. The interface is configured to communicate with a control system of the LEV. The heater controller is configured to control a battery heater of the LEV. The data coupler is configured to couple a data communication channel onto the power line. The external connector interface is configured to exchange vehicle data with a charging structure associated with the LEV via the data communication channel over the power line when the LEV is plugged into the charging structure.

The present disclosure provides a method and apparatus of estimating a road condition, and a method and apparatus of establishing a road condition estimation model, which relates to a field of big data and intelligent traffic. The method includes: acquiring, for a first preset duration before a first moment, a sequence of user tracks for a road and a sequence of road images for the road; extracting a track-related feature of the road from the sequence of the user tracks, and extracting an image-related feature of the road from the sequence of the road images; and inputting the track-related feature of the road and the image-related feature of the road into a pre-trained road condition estimation model, so as to determine, for a second preset duration after the first moment, a road condition information of the road by using an estimated result of the road condition estimation model.