The present disclosure relates to an apparatus (1) for estimation of a vehicle state. The apparatus (1) includes a controller (21) configured to determine a first estimation of the vehicle state in dependence on at least one first vehicle dynamics parameter. A filter coefficient (F.sub.C) is calculated based on a first vehicle operating parameter. An operating frequency of a first signal filter (35) is set in dependence on the determined filter coefficient (F.sub.C) and the first estimation is filtered to generate a first filtered estimation of the vehicle state. The present disclosure also relates to a vehicle; and to a method of estimating a vehicle state.

A steering control apparatus includes: a command steering angle acceleration detector configured to detect a command steering angle acceleration, in an autonomous driving mode, using a command steering angle inputted from an autonomous driving system; an autonomous driving determiner configured to determine whether to cancel the autonomous driving mode using any one or any combination of any two or more of a column torque of a steering shaft, a vehicle speed of a vehicle, and the command steering angle acceleration; and a steering angle controller configured to control a steering angle, in the autonomous driving mode, by adjusting a gain according to a steering angle error between the command steering angle and a current steering angle, based on an output from the command steering angle acceleration detector.

A road surface condition estimation device extracts a detection signal of a vibration power generation element during a ground contact section to detect a road surface condition. A threshold used for determination of the ground contact section is variable according to a traveling speed of a vehicle. As a result, even if a pulse level of an output voltage of the vibration power generation element changes according to the traveling speed of the vehicle, the threshold corresponding to the change can be set. The ground contact section is determined with the use of the above thresholds, thereby being capable of performing the determination with high accuracy. Therefore, the road surface condition can be detected with high accuracy based on the ground contact section determined with high accuracy.

In a method for detecting the road condition for a vehicle, the following steps are performed: a vehicle dynamics variable describing the dynamics of the motor vehicle is detected while the vehicle is driving; the vehicle dynamics variable is subjected to a frequency analysis; and a road condition variable describing the instantaneous roughness of the roadway surface is ascertained as a function of the frequency analysis of the vehicle dynamics variable.

A vehicle behavior control device includes: an ith suspension mounted on an ith wheel of a vehicle (where i=1 to 3); a fourth suspension mounted on a fourth wheel; and a controller. The ith suspension includes an ith actuator. The controller converts a required value of a behavior parameter to an ith required control force for the ith actuator. When a kth required control force (k is any of 1 to 3) is greater than a kth output range according to an output capability of a kth actuator, the controller performs a required control force reduction process of reducing all of first to third required control forces, and controls the ith actuator based on the ith required control force after the required control force reduction process.

A construction machine including an internal combustion engine controlled based on a torque command, an electric motor mechanically connected to the internal combustion engine, and an electric energy storage device that supplies electric power to the electric motor, the construction machine performing work by driving a hydraulic pressure generator using the internal combustion engine and the electric motor, the construction machine including: a speed control device that controls a speed of the electric motor based on a speed command; and a torque limiter that limits the torque command relative to a torque target, wherein the torque command is limited by the torque limiter in such a manner that a rate of change with time of the torque command is limited to be equal to or less than a predetermined value.

A turning-characteristic estimating unit of an ECU estimates a stability factor and a steering-response time constant coefficient that are parameter values related to turning characteristics of a vehicle. A standard yaw rate of the vehicle is calculated using the estimation values of the stability factor and the steering-response time constant coefficient estimated by the turning-characteristic estimating unit. A validity determining unit of the ECU determines the validity of the estimation values based on the standard yaw rate and an actual yaw rate of the vehicle. This allows improving the estimation accuracy of the stability factor and the steering-response time constant coefficient.

A method of controlling driving force of a vehicle, includes providing a first filter for removing or reducing a natural frequency component of the vehicle suspension pitch motion, and a second filter for extracting or increasing the natural frequency component of the vehicle suspension pitch motion to a controller of the vehicle, determining a required driving force command based on vehicle driving information collected during driving of the vehicle, determining a driving force command after filter application through a processing process by the first filter taking the determined required driving force command as input thereof, determining a driving force correction amount through a processing process by the second filter taking feedback driving force as input thereof, and correcting the driving force command after filter application using the driving force correction amount and controlling driving force applied to a driving wheel of the vehicle by a driving device of the vehicle using the driving force command after the correction.

A method of angle estimation for use in a vehicle which is travelling on a surface. The vehicle includes a vehicle body having a first axis and being attached to at least two wheels. The method includes the steps of: providing a first height sensor for measuring h.sub.1, the height of the vehicle body with respect to the first wheel; providing a second height sensor for measuring h.sub.2, the height of the vehicle body with respect to the second wheel; providing a surface angle sensor for measuring .sub.road, the angle of the surface in relation to a horizontal plane; measuring the values of h.sub.1, h.sub.2 and .sub.road; using the values of h.sub.1 and h.sub.2 to calculate .sub.rel, the angle of the vehicle body relative to the surface; and calculating an estimate of .sub.glob, the angle between the first axis and the horizontal plane, from .sub.road and .sub.rel.

It is advantageous for a vehicle to detect road wetness or related environmental conditions. This is particularly true for self-driving vehicles, which can then adjust the manner of automated operation of the vehicle to increase safety by reducing speed, braking earlier, adjusting internal estimates of road traction parameters, or adjusting autonomous operation in some other manner. It is difficult to directly measure road wetness (e.g., using spectroscopy or other methods directed at the road surface), however, it is possible to indirectly estimate road wetness based on road noise audio signals detected via one or more microphones disposed on the vehicle. The location of the microphones, the type of post-processing applied to the audio signals, or other factors can be adapted to increase the useful road wetness-related content of such audio signals while reducing the presence of engine noise, road noise, or other confounding signals.