A control apparatus is configured to control a vehicle. The vehicle includes an engine, a generator, and a drive motor. The generator is configured to generate electric power by using motive power to be outputted from the engine. The drive motor is coupled to a drive wheel. The engine, the generator, and the drive motor are coupled to each other via a planetary gear mechanism. The control apparatus includes a processor configured to control an operating point of the engine by controlling respective operations of the generator and the drive motor. The processor is configured to change a fuel consumption characteristic of the engine on the basis of traveling characteristic data, and to control the operating point of the engine on the basis of the fuel consumption characteristic. The traveling characteristic data indicates a traveling characteristic in the past of the vehicle driven by a driver of the vehicle.

Provided are a driver posture measurement device and a vehicle control device that can accurately measure the posture of a driver with a simple configuration without attaching a plurality of wireless communication units to a vehicle. The driver posture measurement device and the vehicle control device are configured such that, between one wireless communication unit provided on the vehicle side and one wireless communication unit provided on the driver side, radio waves are radiated from the wireless communication unit provided on the vehicle side, and on the basis of a radio wave arrival angle of the radio waves arriving at the wireless communication unit provided on the driver side, the driver posture is measured.

Fuel injection of a hybrid electric vehicle including an engine and a transmission may be controlled by a method including, determining to release coasting of the hybrid electric vehicle based on a brake pedal operation, determining whether a fuel injection suspending condition is satisfied based on vehicle running state data, suspending fuel injection when the vehicle running state data satisfies the fuel injection suspending condition, performing an engagement control of the transmission while the fuel injection is suspended, determining whether a fuel injection suspension release condition is satisfied, determining whether the engine and the transmission are directly coupled when the fuel injection suspension release condition is satisfied, and initiating fuel injection of the engine when the engine and the transmission are directly coupled.

A method for operating a hybrid motor vehicle. In one example, the vehicle comprises an internal combustion engine (10) and at least one electric motor (20). As long as at least one parameter of an exhaust gas aftertreatment system (12) of the internal combustion engine (10) lies outside a given range, the starting of the internal combustion engine (10) is delayed and the internal combustion engine (10) is dragged by the electric motor (20). At the same time at least one measure is carried out which changes the parameter.

When it is determined that there is a likelihood of occurrence of an abnormality in a supercharger, a maximum engine rotation speed and a maximum MG2 rotation speed are changed to a low rotation speed side and operating points of an engine and a rotary machine are controlled such that an engine rotation speed and an MG2 rotation speed are respectively within ranges which do not exceed the changed maximum rotation speeds. Accordingly, even when the supercharger does not operate normally and an abnormal increase in a supercharging pressure occurs, it is possible to curb a high-rotation state of the engine rotation speed and the MG2 rotation speed. As a result, even when an abnormal increase in the supercharging pressure occurs, it is possible to curb a decrease in durability of components.

A vehicle controller is configured to execute a duty cycle control process of alternately repeating an electric power generation execution period and an electric power generation stop period of an electric generator and controlling a duty cycle, which is a ratio of the electric power generation execution period to a single cycle of repeated cycles, when determining that an anomaly has occurred in a driving circuit. The duty cycle control process includes at least one of two processes, a process of setting the duty cycle to be larger when a member in an overheatable region, in which overheating is possibly performed by the heater, has a low temperature than when the member has a high temperature and a process of setting the duty cycle to be larger when an internal combustion engine has a large intake air amount than when the engine has a small intake air amount.

Presented are hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) powertrains and control logic for optimized regenerative braking (regen), methods for making/using such systems, and HEVs with increased regen through reduced engine and transmission friction. A method of operating an HEV includes determining if an REV operating state or fault prevents engagement of a regen control operation and, if not, responsively determining if a torque request for the REV's powertrain is less than a road load on the HEV. The regen control operation is executed responsive to the torque request being less than the road load. The regen control operation includes the power transmission drivingly disconnecting the engine from the road wheels, and the engine operating at a target engine speed. A negative torque offset to maintain a vehicle deceleration rate after disconnecting the engine from the road wheels is calculated; the traction motor outputs a negative torque based on this negative torque offset.

A fuel management system includes a memory and a control module. The memory stores fuel rate maps for multiple firing fractions, where: each of the firing fractions corresponds to a respective firing pattern of an engine; at least some of the firing patterns include deactivating one or more cylinders. The control module: for each of the firing fractions, determines a fuel efficiency value for each of multiple transmission gear ratios, where fuel efficiency values are provided for transmission ratio and firing fraction pairs; applies drive ability constraints to provide resultant transmission ratio and firing fraction pairs; subsequent to applying the drive ability constraints and based on the fuel efficiency values, selects one of the resultant transmission ratio and firing fraction pairs; and concurrently operates a transmission and the engine according to the selected one of the transmission ratio and firing fraction pairs.

Systems and methods are disclosed for determining, and displaying, the regulatory compliance status of a motorized vehicle, a driver of a motorized vehicle, or a non-vehicle machine. An authorized agent, such as a law enforcement officer, can perform a remotely-initiated safe stop of a motorized vehicle to prevent a high-speed chase. A system management center can receive, store, and transmit regulatory compliance records indicating the regulatory compliance status of drivers, motorized vehicles, and non-vehicle machines. A motorized vehicle can detect, and report, a driver “tail-gating” the motorized vehicle. The regulatory compliance history of drivers, motorized vehicles, and non-vehicle machines can be queried by authorized users.

A vehicle braking force control apparatus of the disclosure executes a slip rate reduction control to reduce a slip rate of any of wheels of a vehicle becoming equal to or greater than a predetermined slip rate threshold by automatically changing braking force applied to one or more of the wheels. The apparatus uses a first slip rate threshold as the predetermined slip rate threshold during a normal acceleration-and-deceleration control and a normal steering control. The apparatus uses a second slip rate threshold during a driving assist control. The second slip rate is set to a value smaller than the first slip rate threshold and near and smaller than the slip rate, at which a friction coefficient between the wheel and a surface of a road on which the vehicle moves is maximum.