A vehicle driving control method includes: controlling, by a controller, a speed of an engine included in a vehicle and a torque of the engine so that fuel consumption of the vehicle is minimized in an acceleration section of the vehicle, based on gradient information of a road on which the vehicle is being driven and an air resistance of the vehicle; and controlling, by the controller, the vehicle to perform coasting driving in a coasting driving section of the vehicle after a speed of the vehicle reaches a maximum speed of an operation mode, in which the vehicle is accelerated and then performs the coasting driving, by the control of the speed of the engine and the torque of the engine.

The invention provides a system (10) for a motor vehicle (100) that receives drive demand information (161S) indicative of an amount of drive demanded of a powertrain (129) of the vehicle (100), and controls an amount of drive torque applied by the powertrain (129) to one or more road wheels (111, 112, 114, 115) in dependence on the drive demand information (116S). The system also receives gradient information (11GS) relating to the driving surface and vehicle speed information (Sv). The control system, in dependence on the gradient and speed information, automatically causes a braking system (12d) to apply brake force to one or more of the wheels (111, 112, 114, 115) to prevent vehicle rollback, and adjusts the amount of brake force applied in dependence on the drive demand information (161S) to cause the amount of brake force applied to increase progressively as the amount of drive demand decreases.

A transmission is provided having a control module, an input member, an output member, four planetary gear sets, a plurality of interconnecting members, and a plurality of torque transmitting devices. Each of the planetary gear sets includes first, second and third members. The torque transmitting devices include clutches and brakes. The control module includes a control logic sequence for performing a coasting downshift of the transmission.

A method for controlling a vehicle includes automatically controlling vehicle brakes to decelerate the vehicle at a braking deceleration rate in response to an anticipated stop at a traffic signal and an adaptive cruise control system being active. The method further includes, in response to the vehicle decelerating to an intermediate speed, releasing the vehicle brakes. The intermediate speed is determined such that, at the intermediate speed, a coasting distance to a full stop is approximately equal to a distance to the traffic signal.

Methods and systems are provided for a vehicle. In one example, a method for the vehicle includes adjusting an output torque of an electric machine to produce a desired vehicle speed and direction of propulsion while operating an auxiliary load powered via the transmission. The output torque may be adjusted while disengaging clutches of a transmission or a service brake to mechanically unlock an output shaft of the transmission. The first electric machine may be operated in a speed control to learn an amount to torque to hold the vehicle speed at zero and the amount of learned torque may be superimposed with an amount of requested torque upon vehicle launch.

Some embodiments of the present invention comprise a method of controlling a powertrain of a vehicle, the powertrain comprising drive torque means, a transmission and a driveline, the drive torque means comprising an internal combustion engine, the method comprising: detecting that coasting entry criteria have been met; causing the powertrain to assume a first coasting mode for a first time period in which the drive torque means delivers positive drive torque to the driveline to substantially balance powertrain losses; determining a value for at least one parameter, the or each parameter being indicative of: a probability that a demand will be made for torque to be delivered to the driveline in addition to torque delivered to substantially balance powertrain losses; or a probability that a demand will be made for braking of the vehicle; and setting the value of the first time period in dependence on the value of the or each parameter.

An end point speed at an end point of inertial travel that a vehicle is controlled to perform in a short section l.sub.i is calculated using a weight, a start point speed, slopes, and a horizontal distance, based on a change in energy of the vehicle or an acceleration of the vehicle in the short section. In a case where the calculated end point speed is within a speed range, the vehicle is controlled to perform inertial travel in the short section. In this way, the speed of the vehicle in a case where the vehicle is controlled to perform inertial travel can be accurately calculated and the vehicle can be prevented from deviating from a set speed range at an early stage even when controlled to perform inertial travel, thereby increasing the distance traveled by inertial travel and effectively increasing fuel economy.

A method of operating a vehicle having an engine, a throttle valve and a throttle operator. A continuously variable transmission operatively connected to the engine has a driving pulley, a driven pulley, and a belt operatively connecting the driving and driven pulleys. A ground engaging member is operatively connected to the driven pulley. A piston is operatively connected to the driving pulley for applying a piston force thereto and thereby changing an effective diameter of the driving pulley. A control unit controls actuation of the piston and the piston force. The method includes detecting a stall condition indicative of the vehicle being stalled, and, responsive to the detection, setting the piston force to be zero.

A vehicle control apparatus for controlling a vehicle including an engine, a motor generator, a manual transmission, a clutch, an accelerator pedal, a clutch pedal, a brake pedal, a shift lever, and a control unit that performs inertia travel control to cause a vehicle to start inertia travel when a predetermined condition is satisfied during travel of the vehicle, performs free-run transition control to change to a free-run travel when a predetermined inertia travel time has elapsed since the start of the inertia travel, and sets the inertia travel time in a case where the last operation before the inertia travel is one of predetermined operation to be longer than the inertia travel time in a case where the last operation before the inertia travel is an operation in which the return speed of the accelerator pedal is greater than or equal to a predetermined return speed.

Provided is a control apparatus of a vehicle, which includes a transmission mode switching control program for controlling the automatic transmission to switch between an automatic transmission mode and a manual transmission mode, a coast idle stop control program for performing a coast idle stop control in which the engine is stopped automatically and the automatic transmission is changed into a neutral position while the vehicle is traveling, and a coast idle control program for performing a coast idle control in which the engine is made running idle and the automatic transmission is changed into the neutral position while the vehicle is traveling.