A vehicle controller is provided. An update process updates a relationship defining data by inputting, to a predetermined update map, a state of a vehicle, a value of an action variable used to operate an electronic device, and a reward corresponding to that electronic device. A reward calculating process provides, based on the state of the vehicle obtained by an obtaining process, a greater reward when a characteristic of the vehicle meets a standard than when the characteristic of the vehicle does not meet the standard. A loosening process loosens the standard to a larger extent when the degree of deterioration is large than when the degree of deterioration is small.

A vehicle controller is provided. An update process updates a relationship defining data by inputting, to a predetermined update map, a state of a vehicle, a value of an action variable used to operate an electronic device, and a reward corresponding to that electronic device. A reward calculating process provides, based on the state of the vehicle obtained by an obtaining process, a greater reward when a characteristic of the vehicle meets a standard than when the characteristic of the vehicle does not meet the standard. A loosening process loosens the standard to a larger extent when the degree of deterioration is large than when the degree of deterioration is small.

A controller for an internal combustion engine that has a port injection valve and is capable of running on a gasoline/alcohol mixed fuel comprises: load detecting means that detects a load during operation of the internal combustion engine; alcohol concentration detecting means that detects an alcohol concentration of the mixed fuel; and synchronous fuel injection increasing means that increases a fuel injection amount in a synchronous injection period in response to the load when the load detected by the load detecting means is higher than a predetermined load value and the alcohol concentration detected by the alcohol concentration detecting means is higher than a predetermined concentration value, the synchronous injection period being a period in which a period in which an intake valve is opened and a period in which the mixed fuel is injected from the port injection valve overlap with each other.

A method for starting an engine is provided. The method comprises in response to an engine start request, cycling a gaseous fuel injector prior to activating a starter motor. In this way, delayed engine starts using gaseous fuel may be mitigated.

Methods and systems are provided for reducing fueling errors resulting from pressure pulsations in a port injection fuel rail. The pressure pulsations result from pressure pulsations generated in a high pressure fuel pump delivering fuel to both the port injection fuel rail and a direct injection fuel rail. A center of a port injection fuel pulse is repositioned on a nearest fuel rail pressure sampling point in the advanced direction to improve the accuracy of the delivered fuel pulse.

A method for starting an engine is provided. The method comprises in response to an engine start request, cycling a gaseous fuel injector prior to activating a starter motor. In this way, delayed engine starts using gaseous fuel may be mitigated.

A method for starting an engine is provided. The method comprises in response to an engine start request, cycling a gaseous fuel injector prior to activating a starter motor. In this way, delayed engine starts using gaseous fuel may be mitigated.

A method for the rapid restarting of an internal combustion engine that is slowing down at a reduced supplied air volume, in which the supplied air volume is increased again following a detected restart request and an ignitable fuel/air mixture is produced by a fuel injection in an intake cylinder that is in the intake cycle when the supplied air volume is increased, and the mixture is ignited in the intake cylinder to produce a combustion in the power cycle of the intake cylinder.

A method for starting an engine is provided. The method comprises opening a throttle valve controlling air flow into an intake manifold in response to a gaseous pressure differential across a gaseous fuel injector exceeding a threshold pressure. In this way, delayed engine starts using gaseous fuel may be mitigated.

A control method takes an internal combustion engine including a port injection valve that injects fuel into an intake port and a cylinder injection valve that directly injects fuel into a combustion chamber as a control target. In the control method, when request torque to the internal combustion engine is in a first torque range, lean combustion is realized by port asynchronous injection. When the request torque is increased from the first torque range to a second torque range which is higher than the first torque range, fuel injection is switched to port synchronous injection from port asynchronous injection, and lean combustion is realized by the port synchronous injection. When the request torque is increased from the second torque range to a third torque range that is higher than the second torque range, the port synchronous injection is stopped, and lean combustion is realize by cylinder injection.