A computer-implemented method for controlling a host vehicle having a vehicle control system that controls motion of the host vehicle relative to a preceding vehicle that is immediately ahead of the host vehicle. The method includes determining a relative headway distance and a relative velocity between the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle, and an acceleration rate of the preceding vehicle. The method includes receiving message packets transmitted from a leading vehicle and the message packets contain parameters of the leading vehicle including an acceleration rate of the leading vehicle. Further, the method includes calculating an acceleration control rate for the host vehicle to maintain the headway reference distance between the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle, based on the relative headway distance, the relative velocity, the acceleration rate of the preceding vehicle, and the acceleration rate of the leading vehicle. The acceleration rate is output to a vehicle controller to control motion of the host vehicle.

Provided are a driving force control method and device for a hybrid vehicle, each capable of effectively absorbing torque fluctuation of an engine while suppressing deterioration in energy efficiency. The driving force control device for a hybrid vehicle comprises a PCM configured to: estimate an average torque output by an engine; estimate a torque fluctuation component of the torque output by the engine; set a countertorque for suppressing the estimated torque fluctuation component; and control an electric motor to output the set countertorque, wherein the PCM is operable, under a condition that the average torque output by the engine is constant, to set the countertorque such that, as an engine speed of the engine becomes larger, the absolute value of the countertorque becomes larger.

An apparatus includes an energy storage circuit, an input circuit, and a hybrid management circuit. The energy storage circuit is structured to receive information regarding a state of charge (SOC) and a state of health (SOH) of an energy storage device structured to store energy. The input circuit is structured to receive an indication of a torque demand. The hybrid management circuit is structured to: determine a SOH adjustment factor based on the SOH of the energy storage device; determine a first torque output for a genset based on the SOH adjustment factor and the SOC of the energy storage device, the genset including an engine and a first motor-generator; and operate the genset to provide the first torque output and to generate an amount of energy for a second motor-generator to meet the torque demand according to the SOH adjustment factor.

A method for managing a state of charge (SOC) of an energy store of a vehicle comprising storing an encoding of a dynamic weight value, computationally determining an estimated travel time to a stopover location, using the estimated travel time to modify the dynamic weight value to provide an updated dynamic weight value, and responsive to providing the updated dynamic weight value, increasing the SOC of the energy store while the vehicle travels over a roadway to provide a target SoC of the energy store when the vehicle arrives at the stopover location.

Provided are a driving force control method and device for a hybrid vehicle, each capable of effectively absorbing torque fluctuation of an engine while suppressing deterioration in energy efficiency. The driving force control device for a hybrid vehicle comprises a PCM configured to: identify a vehicle acceleration; estimate an average torque output by an engine; estimate a torque fluctuation component of the torque output by the engine; set a countertorque for suppressing the estimated torque fluctuation component; and control an electric motor to output the set countertorque, wherein the PCM is operable, under a condition that an engine speed and the average torque output by the engine are constant, to set the countertorque such that, as the absolute value of the vehicle acceleration becomes smaller, the absolute value of the countertorque becomes larger.

A method for identifying a road condition, in which a piece of road condition information representing the road condition is determined using a front end air moisture value representing an air moisture at a front end of a vehicle and a rear end air moisture value representing an air moisture at a rear end of the vehicle.

A computer-implemented method for controlling a host vehicle having a vehicle control system that controls motion of the host vehicle relative to a preceding vehicle that is immediately ahead of the host vehicle. The method includes determining a relative headway distance and a relative velocity between the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle, and an acceleration rate of the preceding vehicle. The method includes receiving message packets transmitted from a leading vehicle and the message packets contain parameters of the leading vehicle including an acceleration rate of the leading vehicle. Further, the method includes calculating an acceleration control rate for the host vehicle to maintain the headway reference distance between the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle, based on the relative headway distance, the relative velocity, the acceleration rate of the preceding vehicle, and the acceleration rate of the leading vehicle. The acceleration rate is output to a vehicle controller to control motion of the host vehicle.

A travel control method controls travel of an own vehicle to locate a lateral position of the own vehicle at a predetermined position with respect to a lane marker of a lane in which the own vehicle is traveling or with respect to a preceding vehicle, and reduces a control amount on travel from when control on the travel of the own vehicle is started until a predetermined time passes to be smaller than a control amount on the travel after the predetermined time has passed.

A driving support apparatus performing a plurality of driving support includes: a reliability acquiring unit that acquires each reliability of a plurality of detection apparatus, the reliability representing likelihood of a detection result of the detection apparatus; a determination unit that determines whether or not each of the detection apparatus is a high reliability apparatus determined based on a reliability threshold; a correspondence acquiring unit that acquires correspondence information representing a correspondence between combinations of the plurality of detection apparatus including information of whether or not each apparatus is a high reliability apparatus, and types of driving support to be performed; a setting unit that sets a driving support to be performed, based on a result of the determination; an executing unit that executes the driving support to be performed; and an output unit that outputs a command to allow the executing unit to execute the driving support.

Disclosed is a system and method for controlling a vehicle using a predetermined driving mode of a driving route. A vehicle includes an engine, a speed detector configured to detect a rotational speed of the vehicle wheel and a steering angle detector configured to detect a steering angle. The vehicle further comprises a controller configured to control driving of the engine using a predetermined driving mode. The controller obtains a cumulative driving distance based on the rotational speed, obtains a driving direction based on the detected steering angle. The controller controls operation of the engine based on the cumulative driving distance and the driving direction according to a predetermined driving mode of a driving route.