This vehicle control device 10 is provided with: a current gear stage selection unit 13 which, on the basis of the travel resistance of the vehicle, selects a current gear stage, which is the gear stage of the vehicle in the current travel segment where the vehicle is traveling; a next gear stage selection unit 16 which selects a next gear stage, which will be the gear stage of the vehicle in the next travel segment, forwards in the travel direction of the vehicle, having a road slope different from that of the current travel segment; and a shift control unit 17 which, if during travel of the vehicle in the current travel segment in the current gear stage, the current gear stage selection unit 13 has newly selected a target gear stage higher than the next gear stage, controls shifting such that upshifting from the current gear stage to the target gear stage is suppressed and the current gear stage is maintained. If, in a state in which upshifting is suppressed, the engine rotation speed reaches or exceeds a prescribed value during travel in the current travel segment, the shift control unit 17 controls shifting so as to upshift to the target gear stage without suppression of upshifting.

This vehicle control devices provided with: a travel segment determination unit 15 which determines a next travel segment, forwards in the travel direction of the vehicle, which has a different road slope from the current travel segment where the vehicle is currently traveling; a next gear stage selection unit 16 which, on the basis of the road slope of the next travel segment, selects a next gear stage, which will be the gear stage of the vehicle in the next travel segment; and a shift control unit 17 which upshifts to the next gear stage in the current travel segment in the case that the travel resistance in the next travel segment is less than the travel resistance of the current travel segment, the value obtained by subtracting the travel resistance of the vehicle in the current travel segment from the drive force at the current speed of the vehicle in the next gear stage is less than a first prescribed value, and the value obtained by subtracting the travel resistance of the vehicle in the next travel segment from the drive force at the current vehicle speed in the next gear stage is less than a second prescribed value.

This vehicle control devices provided with: a travel segment determination unit 15 which determines a next travel segment, forwards in the travel direction of the vehicle, which has a different road slope from the current travel segment where the vehicle is currently traveling; a next gear stage selection unit 16 which, on the basis of the road slope of the next travel segment, selects a next gear stage, which will be the gear stage of the vehicle in the next travel segment; and a shift control unit 17 which upshifts to the next gear stage in the current travel segment in the case that the travel resistance in the next travel segment is less than the travel resistance of the current travel segment, the value obtained by subtracting the travel resistance of the vehicle in the current travel segment from the drive force at the current speed of the vehicle in the next gear stage is less than a first prescribed value, and the value obtained by subtracting the travel resistance of the vehicle in the next travel segment from the drive force at the current vehicle speed in the next gear stage is less than a second prescribed value.

A method and device for vehicle speed control when towing a heavy load trailer are disclosed. The method includes determining whether a vehicle is in a trailer towing mode; determining whether the vehicle is in a slope-climbing situation or not using a G sensor based road gradient value when the vehicle is determined to be in the trailer towing mode; calculating a difference between the G sensor based road gradient value and a torque-based road gradient value, and determining whether a towed trailer is a heavy load trailer on the basis of the calculated difference, when it is determined the vehicle is in the slope-climbing situation; and performing shift control using a heavy load trailer dedicated shift map when the towed trailer is determined to be a heavy load trailer.

A vehicle control device performing upshift to a forward gear stage in a current travel section in a case where: (1) the forward gear stage is higher than a current gear stage; (2) a travel resistance of a vehicle in the current travel section is greater than a driving force in a case of traveling at the forward gear stage; (3) a stall amount until the vehicle passes an end point of the current travel section in a case where the vehicle travels in the current travel section at the forward gear stage is equal to or smaller than a specified value; and (4) a value obtained by subtracting the travel resistance of the vehicle in a forward travel section from a driving force in a case where the vehicle travels in the forward travel section at the forward gear stage is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.

A vehicle control device performing upshift to a forward gear stage in a current travel section in a case where: (1) the forward gear stage is higher than a current gear stage; (2) a travel resistance of a vehicle in the current travel section is greater than a driving force in a case of traveling at the forward gear stage; (3) a stall amount until the vehicle passes an end point of the current travel section in a case where the vehicle travels in the current travel section at the forward gear stage is equal to or smaller than a specified value; and (4) a value obtained by subtracting the travel resistance of the vehicle in a forward travel section from a driving force in a case where the vehicle travels in the forward travel section at the forward gear stage is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.

This vehicle control device 10 is provided with: a current gear stage selection unit 13 which, on the basis of the travel resistance of the vehicle, selects a current gear stage, which is the gear stage of the vehicle in the current travel segment where the vehicle is traveling; a next gear stage selection unit 16 which selects a next gear stage, which will be the gear stage of the vehicle in the next travel segment, forwards in the travel direction of the vehicle, having a road slope different from that of the current travel segment; and a shift control unit 17 which, if during travel of the vehicle in the current travel segment in the current gear stage, the current gear stage selection unit 13 has newly selected a target gear stage higher than the next gear stage, controls shifting such that upshifting from the current gear stage to the target gear stage is suppressed and the current gear stage is maintained. If, in a state in which upshifting is suppressed, the engine rotation speed reaches or exceeds a prescribed value during travel in the current travel segment, the shift control unit 17 controls shifting so as to upshift to the target gear stage without suppression of upshifting.

This vehicle control device 10 is provided with: a current gear stage selection unit 13 which selects a current gear stage, which is the gear stage of the vehicle in the present travel state; a travel segment determination unit 15 which determines the next travel segment forwards in the direction of travel of the vehicle V; and a shift control unit 17 which, in the case that the current gear stage selection unit 13 has newly selected a target gear stage lower than the current gear stage during travel of the vehicle V in the current gear stage in the current travel segment, if the next travel segment can be traveled in the current gear stage and the amount the vehicle V will lose speed after traveling the current travel segment is less than or equal to a prescribed threshold value, controls shifting of the gear stage such that downshifting from the current gear stage to the target gear stage is suppressed and the current gear stage is maintained. Even in a state in which downshifting is suppressed, if the state of the vehicle the satisfies a prescribed condition, then the shift control unit 17 controls shifting of the gear stage so as to downshift to the target gear stage without suppression of downshifting.

In the present invention: a road information acquisition unit (12a) acquires road information about a prescribed section of road ahead of a vehicle traveling at a first shift position; a vehicle information acquisition unit (12b) acquires vehicle information; a speed prediction unit (12c) predicts, on the basis of the road information and the vehicle information, the speed transition in the prescribed section for when the vehicle will have traveled through the prescribed section at the first shift position; and a gearshift control unit (12d) causes a transmission (5) to downshift to a second shift position when the minimum value of the predicted vehicle speed is less than a prescribed speed.

A shift control apparatus and a method for a vehicle are provided. The shift control apparatus and the method for a vehicle that can control gear shifts by detecting a slope ahead based on road information are provided. The shift control apparatus for a vehicle may include: an engine; a transmission configured to receive power from the engine; and a controller configured to check an effective sloping point based on road information, to calculate a target gear ratio based on a first engine torque at a location of the vehicle and a gear ratio of the transmission when the effective sloping point is reached within a predetermined amount of time, to set a target gear position based on the target gear ratio, and to control the transmission based on the target gear position.