A method for illuminating vehicle surroundings of a motor vehicle that comprises an illumination device and a detection device, wherein the illumination device is set up to illuminate at least part of a solid angle region of the vehicle surroundings with different illumination patterns, in particular with visible light, wherein the illumination patterns each predefine illumination intensities for different solid angle subregions of the solid angle region, comprising the steps of: illuminating the vehicle surroundings with a first of the illumination patterns by means of the illumination device, detecting a light pattern that results from the illumination of the vehicle surroundings with the first illumination pattern by means of the detection device, selecting a second of the illumination patterns on the basis of the detected light pattern, and illuminating the vehicle surroundings with the second illumination pattern by means of the illumination device.

A suspension device includes: a damping device that damps a force generated between a vehicle body and a wheel of a vehicle; a determination unit that determines whether the vehicle is jumping, using an acceleration of the vehicle in a front-rear direction, an acceleration of the vehicle in a left-right direction, and an acceleration of the vehicle in a vertical direction; and a damping force control unit that increases a damping force of the damping device so as to be greater than the damping force generated when the determination unit does not determine that the vehicle is jumping, when the determination unit determines that the vehicle is jumping.

A vehicle suspension control apparatus includes a mode determination device that determines a suspension control mode corresponding to an identified front road surface, in response to the front road surface of a vehicle being identified, a suspension control amount calculation device that calculates an amount of suspension control for passing through the identified front road surface, based on the determined suspension control mode, and a controller that controls a suspension of the vehicle based on the calculated amount of suspension control.

The present invention relates to a system for determining whether to inhibit lowering of the ride height of a vehicle when the vehicle speed exceeds a speed threshold value. The system includes a processor having an input configured to receive ride attribute data from at least one on-board vehicle ride attribute sensor, the ride attribute data being indicative of the roughness of the surface over which the vehicle is travelling, and a data memory configured to store at least one predetermined ride attribute threshold value for the or each ride attribute sensor. The processor is configured to calculate a ride attribute parameter in dependence on the received ride attribute data for the or each ride attribute sensor. The processor is also configured to compare the or each calculated ride attribute parameter with the corresponding at least one predetermined ride attribute threshold value to determine whether the vehicle is travelling on a smooth surface or a rough surface, and to inhibit lowering of the ride height when it is determined that the vehicle is travelling on a rough surface.

Methods are provided for proactively controlling a component of a system. The system may comprise a vehicle and the component may comprise a suspension of the vehicle. According to various aspects, methods may include obtaining information regarding a travel surface along a travel path that the system will travel at a future time and, based on the information regarding the travel surface, controlling the component of the system to traverse the travel surface. Controlling the component based on the information regarding the travel surface may comprise comparing the information regarding the travel surface to information regarding at least one physical constraint of the system and/or comparing frequency content of the information regarding the travel surface to a threshold frequency. Proactive control methods may provide improved response to disturbances and improved tracking and isolation because a suspension may be controlled with reduced or substantially zero delay.

A modular electronic damping control system is described and includes a damping component located at a vehicle suspension location. The modular electronic damping control system also includes a control system configured to control the damping component, and determine the type of damping component present. Also, the control system is configured to automatically tune a vehicle's suspension based on the type of damping component present, and automatically monitor the damping component and determine when a change has been made to the damping component so that the control system can then automatically re-tune the vehicle's suspension based on the change to the damping component.

Disclosed are a system, a method, and an apparatus for controlling a suspension using image data captured by an image sensor. The suspension control apparatus includes at least one image sensor mounted to an own vehicle to capture image data of the surrounding environment of the own vehicle, and a controller configured to control the own vehicle based on the image data captured by the at least one image sensor, wherein the controller receives the image data from the at least one image sensor, extracts suspension control reference information including at least one of road environment information, own vehicle surrounding object information, and own vehicle state information based on the image data and/or an in-vehicle sensor of the own vehicle, and generates a control signal for controlling the height of a suspension according to the suspension control reference information.

A self-calibrating scanning system and method provides a novel way to eliminate errors in scanning systems, such as lidar or radar detection, using an inertial measurement unit. The system includes an energy transmission source configured to transmit an energy signal through a transmittal area. A detector receives a return energy signal of at least one target object of the energy transmitter source within the transmittal area. The system calculates at least one of the range and position of an object from information relating to at least one of the time and phase of the return energy signal relative to the transmittal energy signal. The spatial or angular displacement of the detector relative to the light source is measured using data from the inertial measurement unit, and at least one of calculated range and position of the object is adjusted based on the spatial or angular displacement of the detector.

A damping control system for a vehicle having a suspension located between a plurality of ground engaging members and a vehicle frame are disclosed. The vehicle including at least one adjustable shock absorber having an adjustable damping characteristic.

Systems and methods for operating an engine and a torque converter are presented. In one example, slip of a torque converter is adjusted via at least partially closing or opening a torque converter clutch in response to vehicle vibration. The vehicle vibration may be based on road surface conditions and an actual total number of operating cylinders of the engine.