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).

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.

An alert detection system for a vehicle includes: a sensor unit; a controller; and an alert indication unit, the controller receiving at least one or more input signals from at least the sensor unit and determining one or more output indicators based on the at least one or more input signals, and the one or more output indicators including a first output indicator, a second output indicator, and a third output indicator which are Level 1 alert, Level 2 alert, and Level 3 alert, and the one or more output indicators being progressively actuated based on signal received from the at least one or more of input signals.

A road surface state determination device includes a tire-side device and a vehicle-body-side system. The tire-side device is attached to a back surface of a tread of each of a plurality of tires included in a vehicle. The vehicle-body-side system is included in a body of the vehicle. The tire-side device outputs a detection signal corresponding to a magnitude of vibration applied to the tire. The tire-side device generates road surface data indicative of a road surface state appearing in a waveform of the detection signal. The tire-side device transmits the road surface data. The vehicle-body-side system performs bidirectional communication with the tire-side device and receives the road surface data. The vehicle-body-side system determines the road surface state of a road surface on which the vehicle is traveling based on the road surface data.

Implementations described herein relate to leveraging corresponding streams of speed readings of a vehicle generated by different speed sensors of different computing devices to automatically determine an updated tire size of tires of the vehicle. For example, while a user of the vehicle is driving, a first stream of speed readings can be generated by a vehicle speed sensor of an in-vehicle computing device of the vehicle and a second stream of speed readings can be generated by a mobile speed sensor of a mobile computing device of the user of the vehicle. Processor(s) can obtain the different streams of speed readings from the different computing devices and process the different streams using various operations to determine the update tire size of the tires of the vehicle. The updated tire size can be subsequently utilized to update operational parameter(s) of the vehicle that influence how the vehicle operates.

A method for evaluating a minimum breaking distance of a vehicle, in particular a car. The method comprises the step of obtaining at least one image in a movement direction of the vehicle associated substantially with an actual location of vehicle. A first road type indication from the at least one image is determined by a trained neural network architecture. Second road type indication associated with the actual location of the car are obtained from a database and compared with the first road type indication. If the second road type indication supports the determined first road type indication, an adjustment parameter associated with one of the at least first and second road type indication is selected. If second road type indication does not support the determined first road type indication, a default adjustment parameter as adjustment parameter is selected. Finally, a minimum breaking distance using the adjustment parameter is set.

A road friction coefficient of a vehicle is estimated by obtaining substantially contemporaneous values associated with a steering angle for a steered axle of the vehicle, a lateral acceleration, a yaw acceleration, an alignment torque and an axle load on the steered axle; estimating a lateral tire force on the basis of the steering angle, lateral acceleration, and yaw acceleration; deriving a pneumatic trail from the alignment torque and estimated lateral tyre force; and estimating a road friction coefficient from the lateral tire force, the axle load, and the pneumatic trail. In embodiments, the derivation of the road friction coefficient includes evaluating a nonlinear function of the pneumatic trail.

Method for updating at least one vehicle model parameter and at least one tire parameter in at least one chassis control unit of a vehicle, based on tire sensor information collected by a tire sensor placed on a tire. The method includes the steps of: collecting tire sensor information; updating the at least one vehicle model parameter based on updating at least one tire parameter, updating one tire parameter being based on the tire sensor information.

A system for increasing the safety of voice conversations between drivers and remote parties is shown. The system includes an in-vehicle subsystem and a remote subsystem. The system includes a plurality of sensors which are configured to generate monitoring data. The system includes a computing device, which may be distributed between the subsystems and is configured to calculate a risk level as a function of the monitoring data. The computing device may engage an automatic safety response as a function of the risk level, that may include suspension or termination of on-going conversations among the parties, together with notification about the status of the communication channel. The safety response may be communicated to the driver by generating an alert. The in-vehicle and the remote subsystems communicate using a wireless connection and collaborate in engaging the automatic safety response and communicating any alerts to the driver and remote party using notifications.

Method and device for optimized autonomous driving, wherein a trajectory for the actuation of the vehicle is determined. A profile of the trajectory is defined by a bending line of a bending band. The bending line is preferably determined by the finite element method, in particular according to the principle of virtual shifting, and achieves an optimization goal and satisfies a boundary condition. The boundary condition is defined in accordance with a profile of a roadway for the vehicle. The optimization goal is defined by a desired driving property of the vehicle.