Motor Vehicle Having a Control Element for Selecting a Vehicle Operating Mode From a Plurality of Defined Vehicle Operating Modes

Abstract

A motor vehicle has a control element for selecting a vehicle operating mode from a plurality of defined vehicle operating modes. Furthermore, the motor vehicle has at least one drive motor and an electronically controllable, automated transmission, which is operable in at least one automatic program and in at least one manual program. The motor vehicle also has an electric control arrangement and at least one button for triggering a changeover from an automatic program to a manual program. The electronic control arrangement is configured such that, upon activation of the button for triggering a manual program for a predefined minimum duration by the driver, an operating mode, which is not selectable via the control element based on dynamics, independent of the activation of the control element, is automatically activatable and displayable on the display instead of a selectable operating mode.

Claims

1.-6. (canceled)

7. A motor vehicle comprising: a control element for selecting a vehicle operating mode from a plurality of defined vehicle operating modes, wherein the selected operating mode is displayable on a display, at least one drive motor, an electronically controllable automated transmission which is operable in at least one automatic program and in at least one manual program, at least one button for initiating a changeover from an automatic program to a manual program, and an electronic control arrangement which is configured such that, when the button is actuated by a driver for a predefined minimum period, irrespective of the actuation of the control element, a dynamics-based operating mode which cannot be selected via the control element is automatically activatable and displayable in the display instead of a selectable operating mode.

8. The motor vehicle according to claim 7, wherein the dynamics-based operating mode which cannot be selected via the control element is automatically deactivatable by the control arrangement if a performance requirement signal is within a defined performance requirement range.

9. The motor vehicle according to claim 7, wherein the dynamics-based operating mode which cannot be selected via the control element remains activated as long as a turn signal of the motor vehicle is set.

10. The motor vehicle according to claim 7, wherein the dynamics-based operating mode which cannot be selected via the control element corresponds at least partially to a dynamics-based operating mode which can be selected via the control element.

11. The motor vehicle according to claim 7, wherein the dynamics-based operating mode which cannot be selected via the control element comprises a downshift to a gear which is before a gear which would result in a maximum permissible speed of the drive motor being exceeded.

12. The motor vehicle according to claim 7, wherein a defined acoustic dynamics-based noise is output during the dynamics-based operating mode which cannot be selected via the control element until the operating mode is deactivated.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

[0020] FIG. 1 illustrates an overview of an overall arrangement which is advantageous for embodiments of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

[0021] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a motor vehicle having a control element 4 for the driver for selecting a vehicle operating mode from a plurality of defined vehicle operating modes, for example SPORT, COMFORT and ECO. The respectively selected operating mode, for example “COMFORT” here, is displayed in a display 6, for example in the combination instrument or head-up display of the motor vehicle. The control element 4 is known per se and is arranged, for example, in the center console in the passenger compartment. The motor vehicle is also equipped with at least one drive motor 9 and with an electronically controllable automated transmission 8 which—as is likewise already fundamentally known—can be operated in at least one automatic program D (“Drive”) or S (“Sport”) and in at least one manual program M. In a known manual program M, downshifts or upshifts can fundamentally be sequentially activated, for example, by actuating a button “−” or “+”. The buttons “−” or “+” are integrated here, for example, in an S automatic program slot of a transmission selection lever 2 or is in the form of a shift paddle on the steering wheel 1.

[0022] The motor vehicle also has an accelerator pedal 5 for emitting a performance requirement signal FP, a turn signal 10 and an electronic control arrangement 3. The electronic control arrangement 3 may be contained in a single control device, for example the transmission control device, or may comprise a plurality of software functional modules in various involved control devices (for example transmission control device, drive motor control device, MIMI control device etc.).

[0023] Finally, the motor vehicle according to an embodiment of the invention has a loudspeaker 7 which may be a loudspeaker which is present anyway for entertainment and can be used in an acoustically multifunctional manner.

[0024] According to an embodiment of the invention, the electronic control arrangement 3 is configured in the following manner, in particular by way of a corresponding computer program product:

[0025] If the button “−”, that is to say a button which is fundamentally provided for manual downshifts, is actuated by the driver for a predefined minimum period t1 (also called “long pull on minus paddle”), a dynamics-based special operating mode—called “SPRINT” here—is activated. The button “−” could also have an additional inscription, for example “SPRINT” or “BOOST”, for this special operating mode.

[0026] The dynamics-based operating mode (SPRINT) which cannot be selected via the control element 4 can be automatically deactivated by way of the control arrangement 3 if a performance requirement signal (in particular an accelerator pedal value FP of between 0% and 100%) is within a predefined performance requirement range (S1<FP1<S2; with S1 equal to 0% to 10%, for example, and with S2 being 80%, for example).

[0027] In other words: the dynamics-based operating mode (SPRINT) which cannot be selected via the control element (4) remains activated if the driver actuates the accelerator pedal 5—in particular within a defined time window—in such a manner that a defined performance requirement threshold FP1>S2 is exceeded and/or a defined performance requirement threshold FP1<S1 is undershot or the performance requirement signal is outside a defined performance requirement range, the lower value of which may also be 0%. Otherwise, time-controlled deactivation (for example after 4 seconds) can take place.

[0028] This special operating mode “SPRINT” is automatically activated irrespective of the actuation of the control element 4. If, for example, the operating mode “COMFORT” was set for a predefined minimum period t1 before the actuation of the button “−”, the special operating mode “SPRINT” is displayed in the display 6 instead of this operating mode “COMFORT”.

[0029] The special operating mode “SPRINT” results, in a transmission-based manner, in a special manual program or a special automatic program in which a downshift to the lowest possible gear G.sub.n_max is preferably initiated, which gear is before a gear which would result in the maximum permissible speed of the drive motor 9 being exceeded.

[0030] Moreover, the special operating mode “SPRINT” can preferably correspond at least partially to a dynamics-based operating mode which can be selected via the control element 4—here “SPORT” for example—but is not displayed in the display 6.

[0031] The special operating mode “SPRINT” preferably remains activated as long as a turn signal 10 (BL=1) which has possibly been set for overtaking is reset again (BL=0). The states 0/1 of the turn signal 10 are captured by the control arrangement 3 for this purpose.

[0032] Finally, a defined acoustic dynamics-based noise is output via the loudspeaker 7—possibly in a manner dependent on a possible presetting by the driver—during the activation of the special operating mode “SPRINT” until its deactivation.

[0033] The passenger compartment of the motor vehicle according to an embodiment of the invention may also have lighting elements—not illustrated here—for a particularly sporty light design which can be activated during the special operating mode “SPRINT”.

[0034] This invention takes into account, on the one hand, the performance desired by the driver and, on the other hand, the requirements for optimum comfort with regard to simple controllability.