A method of controlling a vehicle having wheels provided with tires resting on a surface, the method using a model of the physical behavior of each tire as a function of a sideslip angle (β.sub.ij) for each tire relative to the surface. The model is obtained by implementing an adaptive algorithm that selectively applies an affABREGEine model (Z1), a DUGOFF model (Z2), or a constant model (Z3).

Apparatus for estimating a grip factor of at least one wheel comprising: a control unit configured to process a current slip angle of said wheel; a storage unit, within which, in a consultation table, a plurality of grip curves correlating a plurality of values of a steering parameter comprising the rack force with a plurality of values of the slip angle are recorded; along a same curve, the value of the grip factor remains unchanged; wherein the control unit is configured to cyclically estimate at least one raw value of the grip factor of said at least one wheel based on the position of a current condition within the consultation table, as a function of the current slip angle and of the current rack force.

A vehicle and a system and method of controlling the vehicle. The system includes a sensor and a processor. The sensor obtains a first estimate of a force on a tire of the vehicle based on dynamics of the vehicle. The processor is configured to obtain a second estimate of the force on the tire using a tire model, determine an estimate of a coefficient of friction between the tire and the road from the first estimate of the force and the second estimate of the force, and control the vehicle using the estimate of the coefficient of friction.

A system includes a primary control module, a stability status module, and a supervisory control module. The primary control module is configured to determine at least one control action for at least one of an electronic limited slip differential and an aerodynamic actuator of a vehicle based on a driver command. The stability status module is configured to determine whether at least one component of the vehicle is stable or unstable based on an input from a sensor on the vehicle. The at least one component includes at least one of a vehicle body, a front axle, a rear axle, front wheels, and rear wheels. The supervisory control module is configured to adjust the at least one control action when the at least one component is unstable.

A vehicle speed and/or slip of a vehicle is determined. At least first and second images of a traveling surface captured by an image sensor using an optical lens are received by a processor. The images are used to determine the distance travelled by one or more pixels in first and second directions. These distances, along with the sampling rate of the image sensor, determine pixel speed in the first and second directions. The pixel speeds in the first direction, the second direction, or both, may be used to calculate the vehicle speed, a side slip angle, or a longitudinal slip. A tire speed may also be similarly determined using a second image sensor, a second optical lens, and a second processor capturing images of the tire surface. These vehicle parameters may be used for testing or operating the vehicle, including modifying vehicle behavior during operation.

The disclosure relates to a method for generating a reference trajectory within a lane for a vehicle. The method comprises receiving at least one vehicle current state parameter describing a current state of the vehicle (S11). The current state of the vehicle comprises at least a current position of the vehicle. Furthermore, a destination parameter describing a destination to be reached by the vehicle (S12), and at least one route parameter describing a route for reaching the destination (S13) are received. Moreover, the method comprises estimating a power loss being caused when traveling from the current position of the vehicle to the destination (S14). The reference trajectory within the lane is determined such that it minimizes the power loss and leads to the destination (S15). Additionally, a method for operating a vehicle is presented. According to this method, a reference trajectory is generated in accordance with the above method (S21) and at least one control signal is provided for controlling a motion of the vehicle along the reference trajectory (S22). Furthermore, a data processing apparatus, a vehicle and a computer-readable medium are presented.

Methods and systems are provided for using the weights of cost functions to improve linear-program-based vehicle driveline architectures and systems. In some embodiments, the methods and systems may include establishing values for driveline controls of a linear program based on driveline requests of the linear program. The values of the driveline controls, which may be used to adjust driveline actuators, may be established based on values of a plurality of weights of a cost function of the linear program, the weights respectively corresponding with the plurality of driveline requests.

A vehicle sideslip estimation system includes sensors mounted on a vehicle and a kinematic model receiving signals from the sensors to estimate a lateral velocity of the vehicle. A compensated acceleration calculator calculates a compensated lateral acceleration as a measure of conditions that result in a deviation of a measured lateral acceleration. A lateral acceleration calculator determines, based on the compensated lateral acceleration and the measured lateral acceleration, if a lateral acceleration error is larger than a predefined threshold. A filter corrects the estimated lateral velocity of the vehicle when the lateral acceleration error is larger than the predefined threshold. A velocity output register registers the estimated lateral velocity of the vehicle when the lateral acceleration error is smaller than the predefined threshold, and a sideslip calculator calculates a sideslip angle of the vehicle in real time from the registered lateral velocity of the vehicle and a vehicle longitudinal velocity.

A driving force control apparatus includes: a sensor that collects information associated with a state of a vehicle, a driving device that provides a driving force to a drive wheel of the vehicle, and a processor electrically connected with the sensor and the driving device. In particular, the processor calculates a required driving force of a driver and a limit driving force of the vehicle based on at least a portion of information collected by means of the sensor, in a situation where the vehicle is turning. The processor further controls the driving device such that the required driving force does not exceed the limit driving force.

A lane departure prevention system includes a controller configured to control a braking force of vehicle wheels such that a lane departure prevention yaw moment is applied to a vehicle. The controller determines whether there is a likelihood that the vehicle enters a spinning state based on at least one of a difference between an actual yaw rate and a normative yaw rate of the vehicle calculated based on a steering angle, a vehicle speed, and the lane departure prevention yaw moment, and a degree of braking slip of a turning inside wheel when the lane departure prevention yaw moment is a yaw moment for preventing departure of the vehicle from a lane to a turning outside, and applies a spin prevention yaw moment to the vehicle when it is determined that there is a likelihood that the vehicle will enter the spinning state.