A method and device for stabilizing a tractor vehicle-trailer combination during travel, in which tractor vehicle and trailer are connected via at least one pivot joint, including: ascertaining a setpoint buckling angle for a driving-stable setpoint movement of the combination, and/or a setpoint buckling angle velocity for a driving-stable setpoint movement of the combination, between the combination or between two trailers; ascertaining an actual buckling angle for the effective actual movement of the combination, and/or an actual buckling angle velocity for the effective actual movement of the combination, between the tractor vehicle and trailer or between multiple trailers; ascertaining a deviation between the setpoint and actual buckling angles and/or between the setpoint and actual buckling angle velocities, and if the deviation exceeds a threshold value, generating a control signal to activate at least one vehicle component to control movement of the combination in a direction toward a driving-stable movement state.

Disclosed is a method for controlling brakes in a trailer vehicle comprising a pneumatic brake system, service brakes and an electronic brake system with anti-lock control, wherein at least one axle of the trailer vehicle is fitted with spring-loaded brakes and revolution rate sensors. The method comprises: monitoring with the electronic brake system whether there is a braking demand, monitoring with the electronic brake system whether at least one wheel of at least one axle is locking up, and if there is no braking demand and at least one wheel of the at least one axle is locked while traveling, controlling the pneumatic braking system with the electronic brake system to pressurize the spring-loaded brakes and to brake the trailer vehicle by the service brakes automatically and with anti-lock control. A valve arrangement is also disclosed.

Towed vehicles can be extremely heavy. Accordingly, it is too much of a burden to the braking system of a towing vehicle to not have brakes on the towed vehicle. Controlling the brakes of the towed vehicle must be accurately applied otherwise very dangerous conditions can be created. A method of controlling braking of a towed vehicle is, therefore, needed. The method comprises receiving speed signals based on speed of a towing vehicle, or a towed vehicle, or both said towing vehicle and said towed vehicle, receiving pressure signals based on pressure of a hydraulic brake system of the towing vehicle, and generating a brake output signal based on the speed signals and the pressure signals.

A method for determining the overall-deceleration values is attainable by actuation of wheel brakes, of a utility vehicle or of a vehicle combination with several axles. For the purpose of implementing a deceleration request in the course of partial brake applications, a braking-force distribution with braking forces distributed unequally to brake units with the wheel brakes of one or more axles is undertaken. In each instance one of the brake units is selected and a larger braking force is imposed via this selected brake unit than via the other brake units. A current deceleration of the utility vehicle or of the vehicle combination is measured or ascertained and is assigned as partial-deceleration value to the respectively selected brake unit and stored and the attainable overall-deceleration values are determined as the sum of the partial-deceleration values of all the brake units.

A method for adaptively controlling a vehicle speed in a vehicle includes establishing a reference speed; and activating an engine and/or brakes and/or a transmission of the vehicle by a speed-control system as a function of a set vehicle speed and/or a set vehicle retardation for fuel-saving adaptation of the currently existing vehicle speed to the reference speed. The set vehicle speed and/or the set vehicle retardation for a current driving-dynamics situation of the vehicle defined by driving-dynamics vehicle parameters is/are determined as a function of at least one computation coefficient. The at least one computation coefficient is provided by an external arithmetic unit outside the vehicle as a function of the currently existing driving-dynamics vehicle parameters and also as a function of currently existing route information for a route segment situated ahead. The route segment situated ahead is established on the basis of the currently existing driving-dynamics vehicle parameters.

Disclosed is a method for automatically controlling brakes in a trailer vehicle having antilock control, wherein wheel rotational speeds are continuously monitored and evaluated at wheels having antilock control. According to the method, lateral acceleration and longitudinal acceleration of the trailer vehicle are determined. If a predefined, critical lateral acceleration is exceeded, an automatic braking process occurs. A control unit and trailer vehicle are also disclosed in connection with the inventive method.

Systems and methods for increasing the safety of vehicle platooning systems are described. In one aspect, a determination is made as to how many trailers are connected to a tractor, and whether those trailers and any dollies are equipped with an Anti-Lock Braking System. For example, multiple processes for determining whether an Anti-Lock Braking System is operating correctly may be employed to prevent false positives and false negatives. Such processes may determine rates of messages received from Anti-Lock Braking System units, types of messages received from Anti-Lock Braking System units, and/or amounts of types of messages received from Anti-Lock Braking System units.

An electropneumatic control module for an electronically controllable pneumatic brake system for a vehicle combination with a tractor vehicle and a trailer vehicle includes a pneumatic reservoir input, which is connectable to a compressed-air reservoir, a trailer control unit, which has a trailer control valve unit with one or more electropneumatic valves, a trailer brake pressure port and a trailer supply pressure port, an immobilizing brake unit, which has a spring-type actuator port for a spring-type actuator for a tractor vehicle and an immobilizing brake valve unit with one or more electropneumatic valves, and an electronic control unit for controlling the trailer control valve unit and the immobilizing brake valve unit. The trailer control unit has a first relay valve, which has a relay valve working input connected to the reservoir input, a relay valve output connected to the trailer brake pressure port, and a relay valve ventilation output.

A method for testing a pressure-medium-operated electronic brake system of a vehicle having a valve and sensor device including a control pressure inlet, a control pressure outlet, a plurality of valves selected from electrically activated inlet valves, outlet valves, redundancy valves, and pressure valves, an actual pressure sensor for measuring an actual control pressure, a setpoint pressure sensor for measuring a setpoint control pressure, and an electronic control unit, which has a signal-conducting connection to the electrically activated valves and pressure sensors, for receiving pressure signals and actuating the electrically activated valves, includes testing the setpoint pressure sensor while the control unit is in a passive operating mode, passing the setpoint control pressure directly through to the control pressure outlet, measuring the actual pressure at the control pressure outlet using a sensor, and transmitting the measured value to the control unit for plausibility checking against the setpoint pressure measurement.

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for controlling a braking force of a platooning vehicle. The apparatus includes a braking distance predicting unit configured to predict a predicted braking distance of a host vehicle, a braking restriction determining unit configured to determine whether a braking distance of the host vehicle is to be restricted, by comparing the predicted braking distance of the host vehicle with predicted braking distances of following vehicles. The apparatus further includes a braking restriction degree determining unit configured to determine a braking restriction degree of the braking distance of the host vehicle in the case in which it is necessary to restrict the braking distance of the host vehicle.