The present invention provides a vehicle control device capable of enhancing the ability of reducing or avoiding collision damage in a vehicle where a behavior of the vehicle when a braking operation is performed is largely influenced corresponding to a state of load (a loaded state), for example. The vehicle control device includes: a travelability determination unit 300 configured to determine whether or not a vehicle 1 is travelable in an area disposed ahead of the vehicle on left and right sides of the vehicle; a deflection estimation unit 200 configured to estimate deflection of the vehicle 1 due to generation of a brake force applied to the vehicle 1; and a braking control unit 800 configured to calculate deceleration and deceleration start timing based on a distance between the vehicle 1 and an obstacle ahead of the vehicle 1 and a relative speed of the vehicle 1 to the obstacle, and configured to change at least one of the deceleration and the deceleration start timing based on a travelability determination result acquired from the travelability determination unit 300 and a deflection estimation result acquired from the deflection estimation unit 200.

Disclosed is a vehicle control method which comprises the steps of: determining whether or not a squat of a rear end of a vehicle body is equal to or greater than a given level; determining whether or not turning manipulation of a steering device has been made; and, when the turning manipulation of the steering device is determined to have been made, controlling each part of an engine (4) to reduce an output torque of the engine (4), wherein, in response to the determination that the turning manipulation of the steering device has been made, a reduction amount of the output torque of the engine is increased when the squat of the rear end of the vehicle body is equal to or greater than the given level, as compared to when the squat is less than the given level.

A system for estimating a tire load of a tire includes a pressure sensor configured to generate a tire pressure signal; an acceleration sensor configured to generate a tire acceleration signal; a temperature sensor configured to generate a tire temperature signal; and at least one processor configured to calculate a duration of a contact patch based on the tire acceleration signal, calculate a vehicle speed based on the tire acceleration signal, determine at least one system model coefficient based on the tire pressure signal and the tire temperature signal, and calculate the tire load of the tire using a linear system model that relates tire pressure, the duration of the contact patch, and the vehicle speed to the tire load of the tire, where the linear system model further includes the at least one system model coefficient for calculating the tire load of the tire.

A method for operating an automated utility vehicle includes, after a change in the load state of the automated utility vehicle, determining a current weight and/or a current load distribution of the automated utility vehicle. The method further includes making available the determined current weight and/or the determined current load distribution in the form of current load information. The current load information is used for situation-dependent adaptation of planning and/or control of a trajectory of the automated utility vehicle.

A computer includes a processor and a memory storing instructions executable by the processor to determine at least one of a vehicle pitch or a longitudinal center of gravity from data measured while deactivating a first brake for a first axle and applying a second brake for a second axle, and operate the vehicle based on the at least one of vehicle pitch or longitudinal center of gravity. The instructions may further include to determine a vehicle weight from the data, and operate the vehicle based on the vehicle weight.

A method and system of controlling a vehicle includes providing a plurality of dynamic state inputs to a controller in the vehicle that is adapted to execute a plurality of control loops and further includes determining an operating mode of the vehicle. Based on the operating mode of the vehicle, a location of an optimum perceived yaw center of the vehicle is determined corresponding to a selected estimation technique using the dynamic state inputs and wherein the estimation technique is selected based upon the determined operating mode of the vehicle. The information related to the location of the optimum perceived yaw center may be used as input for controlling the vehicle in a dynamic state.

A tipping avoidance system configured to modify operation of a collision avoidance system. The tipping avoidance system may include a payload determination system configured to generate a payload signal, and a load position determination system configured to generate a load position signal. The tipping avoidance system may also include a tipping avoidance controller configured to receive the payload signal and the load position signal, and determine, based at least in part on the payload signal and the load position signal, a minimum stopping distance at or above which the machine will not tip due at least in part to deceleration of the machine from a travel speed to a stopped condition. The tipping avoidance controller may be configured to communicate with a braking controller, such that the braking controller adjusts a stop triggering distance based at least in part on the minimum stopping distance.

The technology relates to determining whether a vehicle operating in an autonomous driving mode is experiencing an anomalous condition, for instance due to a loss of tire pressure, a mechanical failure, or a shift or loss of cargo. The actual current pose of the vehicle is compared to an expected pose of the vehicle, where the expected pose is based on a model of the vehicle. If a pose discrepancy is identified, the anomalous condition is determined from information associated with the pose discrepancy. The vehicle is then able to take corrective action based on the nature of the anomalous condition. The corrective action may include making a real-time driving change, modifying a planned route, alerting a remote operations center, or communicating with one or more other vehicles.

A control system (300) for controlling an active suspension system (104) of a vehicle (100), the active suspension system comprising suspension actuators (502), the control system comprising one or more controller (301), wherein the control system is configured to: in dependence on an activation signal (904), provide (908) a control signal to the active suspension system to cause the suspension actuators of the active suspension system to repetitively pulse vertical force through wheels (FR, FL, RR, RL) of the vehicle in a controlled pattern determined by the one or more controller, to vary wheel-to-surface contact patch forces, wherein the pattern comprises repetitively pulsing vertical force through at least one of the wheels at a first phase and through at least one other of the wheels at a second phase.

An apparatus for controlling a four-wheel drive vehicle includes a tire friction circle calculator that calculates the size of a tire friction circle of each wheel on the basis of vehicle information including a tire vertical load, a resultant force calculator that calculates the magnitude of a resultant force of tire lateral and longitudinal forces for each wheel, a tire-friction-force usage rate calculator that calculates a tire-friction-force usage rate of each wheel that is the ratio of the magnitude of the resultant force to the size of the tire friction circle, and a driving-braking force adjustment controller that adjusts driving force or braking force applied to each wheel. When the tire-friction-force usage rate of any wheel exceeds a predetermined threshold of less than one, the driving-braking force adjustment controller restrains an increase in the driving force or the braking force of the wheel while increasing the driving force or the braking force of at least one of the other wheels that is selected on the basis of driving operation information indicative of the state of a driving operation by a driver.