A trailer braking system comprises a vehicles having a continuously-variable hydrostatic transmission, and a trailer coupled for towing by the vehicle and having an associated braking system operable from the vehicle. The vehicle transmission includes a first pressure sensor arranged to measure a fluid pressure at a predetermined point within the transmission, and a rotation sensor arranged to determine a rotation direction of a predetermined component in a driveline of the vehicle. A control unit coupled to the first pressure sensor and rotation sensor determines when a PUSH condition exists based on a particular combination of pressure and rotational direction, and operates the trailer brakes in response. One or more back-up systems to confirm the existence of a PUSH condition may be provided.

A system and method of controlling individual trailer brakes on a towed trailer supporting numerous fault tolerant behaviors including activating each operational brake when a brake is shorted. System operates in multiple modes where it operates with traditional brake controllers, operates in a degraded braking mode without a brake controller and in the preferred mode it retrieves vehicle information from tow vehicle and then communicates with a brake actuator controller over the trailer brake wire. When braking system includes wheel sensors traditional antilock releases are provided and unlike other braking systems this brake actuator controller can maintain wheel speeds below the trailer speed reducing or eliminating periodic wheel releases. System also diagnoses the mechanical operation of the trailer brakes including; identifying when brake adjustment is required, when brake friction surfaces are degrading, as well as diagnosing sensors, braking signals and brake actuator interfaces.

A method for controlling braking and/or traction of a vehicle is provided. The methods includes determining by the vehicle control unit a desired slip value based on vehicle state parameters, the desired slip value being communicated to the braking control unit and to the traction control unit, measuring or estimating a slip measure or estimation from wheel parameters collected on the at least wheel tire by the sensor, the slip measure or estimation being communicated to the braking control unit and/or to the traction control unit controlling a wheel slip by the braking control unit and by the traction control unit, based on the desired slip value and the slip measure or estimation.

Methods and systems are provided for a vehicle towing a trailer. In an exemplary embodiment, one or more sensors onboard a vehicle are configured to provide sensor data, and a processor onboard the vehicle is configured to at least facilitate: monitoring a trailer sway of the trailer using the sensor data, based on one or more parameters of the sensor data representing the trailer sway and application of a band-pass filter to the one or more parameters; and mitigating the trailer sway, via instructions provided by the processor to one or more braking systems of the vehicle, the trailer, or both, when it is determined that the trailer sway of the trailer is sufficient to warrant mitigation based on the one or more parameters of the sensor data representing the trailer sway and the application of the band-pass filter to the one or more parameters.

A towing device operably provided on a trailer for powering and controlling the trailer. The towing device has an actuator operably connected with the trailer during a towing operation. The towing device also has at least one switch provided in the actuator and operable to variably control at least one motor/generator provided on the trailer. The at least one switch is also operable to send a first signal to the at least one motor/generator via a first force exerted on the actuator by a vehicle, and wherein a first torque is applied to at least one wheel on the trailer via the at least one motor/generator being operably engaged with the at least one wheel. In addition, the towing device may include a controller operably connected to the at least one switch and to the at least one motor/generator, to control the torque applied by the at least one motor/generator.

Technologies and techniques for the restrained movement of a vehicle with a drive unit for accelerating the vehicle, and a braking unit for braking the vehicle. A restraining drive torque is generated by the drive unit, and a braking torque is generated by the braking unit to compensate for the restraining drive torque and thereby to generate a restraining torque in the vehicle, and braking the vehicle by reducing the drive torque. A device and a computer program product may be configured to implement the restraining movement processes and a storage may be configured with a processor to execute the computer program product.

A method for determining a trailer detection parameter of a trailer including receiving an image from at least one camera at a controller. The at least one camera defines a field of view including at least a portion of a vehicle trailer. The method determines a trailer angle of the vehicle trailer relative to a tractor, identifies at least one feature in an image of the trailer, determines a two-dimensional distance from the at least one feature to a predefined position on the image, and converts the two-dimensional distance to a three-dimensional distance based at least in part on the determined angle. The three-dimensional distance is a trailer detection parameter of the trailer.

A trailer oscillation and stability control device including an accelerometer and an angular rate sensor. An oscillation detection discriminator detects oscillatory lateral trailer motion in response to trailer displacement data derived from inputs from the angular rate sensor and acceleration signals received from the accelerometer, and then generates corresponding oscillatory event data. A brake controller generates a braking control signal in response to oscillatory event data received from the oscillation detection discriminator.

Systems and methods to control a radar system to perform cross-traffic management in a vehicle with a trailer involve determining a location of the trailer behind the vehicle, and adjusting an initial field of view of the radar system to a modified field of view that excludes the location of the trailer. One or more other vehicles are detected with the radar system having the modified field of view. A cross-traffic alert is implemented based on the detecting the one or more other vehicles.

Provided is a vehicle control system capable of, when a swaying phenomenon occurs during towing, preventing the swaying phenomenon from becoming worse due to driving force reduction control based on an increase in steering angle-related value. This vehicle control system comprises a steering wheel, a driving force control mechanism to control a driving force of a vehicle, and a power-train control module to control the driving force control mechanism. The power-train control module is operable, upon an increase in steering angle, to control an engine to reduce an output torque of the engine and, when a reversal of yaw rate of the vehicle is repeated in a situation where the vehicle is performing a towing operation, to restrict the output torque reduction based on the increase in the steering angle.