A vehicle system includes a head vehicle and a tail vehicle that is towed by the head vehicle. Together the head vehicle and tail vehicle have a control subsystem for controlling among other things braking of the tail vehicle. The control subsystem includes a head unit in the head vehicle and a tail unit in the tail vehicle. The head unit further includes a head Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) for measuring orientation and acceleration of the head vehicle, and the tail unit includes a tail IMU for measuring orientation and acceleration of the tail vehicle. With the IMUs, the control subsystem is able to determine relative pitch and orientation of the head vehicle and tail vehicle to control braking and reduce the risk of jackknifing. The tail unit further has wheel speed sensors and a Tire-Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) for sensing wheel speed.

A method and apparatus for sensing wheel torque of a highly automated driving (HAD) vehicle includes a wheel hub configured to rotate around a rotation axis as the vehicle moves and a brake caliper, including a brake pad, configured to apply a caliper force to the wheel hub. A reaction carriage is interconnected with the brake caliper and is configured to have a reaction force applied to it when the brake caliper applies the caliper force to the wheel hub. The wheel torque sensor includes a hydraulic chamber having a hydraulic fluid and a pressure sensor, interconnected with the hydraulic chamber, that senses pressure applied to the hydraulic fluid in response to the reaction force.

A control unit of a tire-mounted sensor determines whether a tire has been exchanged. When the tire has been exchanged, the control unit changes the threshold value of a road surface state determination condition used for detecting the road surface state from vibration data of the tire detected by an acceleration sensor of the tire-mounted sensor. For example, the threshold value of the road surface state determination condition is reset upon determining that the tire has been exchanged, by transmitting an instruction to the tire-mounted sensor through a tool at an automobile maintenance shop, etc.

A condition in which an abnormality can occur in a tire is accurately detected on the basis of a detection signal from an acceleration sensor used to detect a road surface state and a possibility that an abnormality has occurred in the tire is also detected. In addition, the detection result is stored as a diagnosis history. The diagnosis history or the possibility that an abnormality has occurred in the tire are notified through a notification device in a vehicle body side system so that a user is informed in advance of the possibility that an abnormality has occurred in the tire. In addition, when the diagnosis history is checked through a tool in a car repair shop, etc., the diagnosis history stored in a tire-mounted sensor is read out. Accordingly, the possibility of abnormality of the tire can be informed also in the car repair shop, etc.

In a braking performance evaluation method including the steps of acquiring a tire ground contact pressure distribution, acquiring a sliding friction coefficient table, and calculating a friction force of an entire tire using a brush model having a function representing the tire ground contact pressure distribution and the sliding friction coefficient table, the step of acquiring the tire ground contact pressure distribution includes the step of acquiring a first ground contact pressure distribution on a road surface on which no water film is present via actual measurement or calculation and the step of acquiring a second ground contact pressure distribution by applying reduction in a ground contact pressure due to a water film intruded between the tire and the road surface to the first ground contact pressure distribution and using the second ground contact pressure distribution as the tire ground contact pressure distribution used for the calculating.

The invention provides a hydroplaning detection method and system. Hydroplaning of a tire is detected based on radial acceleration data of a tire. The radial acceleration data is obtained by using a tire-mounted sensor unit. The lightweight implementation of the method and system allows for quick and robust detection of hydroplaning at an early stage, thereby improving the overall security of a vehicle equipped with the system.

A method for controlling motion of a heavy-duty vehicle, the method including: obtaining input data related to one or more parameters of a tire on the heavy-duty vehicle, determining at least part of the one or more tire parameters based on the input data, configuring a tire model, wherein the tire model defines a relationship between wheel slip and generated wheel force, wherein the tire model is parameterized by the one or more tire parameters, and controlling the motion of the heavy-duty vehicle based on the relationship between wheel slip and generated wheel force.

A tire force estimation system includes a sensor, a sensor information acquisition unit, and a tire force calculator. The sensor measures a physical quantity of a tire. The sensor information acquisition unit acquires the physical quantity measured by the sensor. The tire force calculator includes an arithmetic model for calculating tire force F based on the physical quantity, and calculates the tire force F by inputting the physical quantity acquired by the sensor information acquisition unit into the arithmetic model.

A motion control system for controlling one or more torque generating devices on a heavy-duty vehicle, the system comprising a primary sensor system with a primary sensor control unit configured to interpret an output signal of the primary sensor system, one or more tire sensor devices mounted on, in, or in connection to, one or more tires of the heavy-duty vehicle, and a tire sensor control unit configured to interpret an output signal of the one or more tire sensor devices, wherein the motion control system is arranged to base motion control of the heavy-duty vehicle on output data of the tire sensor control unit in case of malfunction in the primary sensor system and/or in the primary sensor control unit, and on output data of the primary sensor control unit otherwise.

A hydroplaning determination device that determines occurrence of a hydroplaning phenomenon in a vehicle includes a tire mount sensor including a vibration detection unit, a signal process unit and a transmission unit, and a vehicle body system including a receiver, a condition determination unit and a hydroplaning determination unit. The vibration detection unit is attached to a rear surface of a tire provided in a vehicle and outputs a detection signal according to a magnitude of vibration of the tire. The signal process unit generates a vibration data based on the detection signal. The hydroplaning determination unit determines, based on the vibration data, whether a hydroplaning phenomenon has occurred when the condition determination unit determines that a road surface condition is a wet condition in which a water film exists between the tire and a road surface.