Vehicle acceleration determination

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9738284-B2
Application number	US-201514962248-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 8, 2015
Priority date	Dec 8, 2015
Publication date	Aug 22, 2017
Grant date	Aug 22, 2017

Abstract

A system of one or more computers having a processor and a memory, the memory storing instructions executable by the processor such that the computer is programmed to identify a current state of a vehicle and determine a maximum acceleration capability of the vehicle. The system also determines a desired acceleration profile to follow based at least in part the maximum acceleration capability and controls an acceleration of the vehicle based at least in part the desired acceleration profile.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising a computer having a processor and a memory, the memory storing instructions executable by the processor such that the computer is programmed to:
identify a current state of a vehicle;
determine a maximum acceleration capability of the vehicle;
determine a desired acceleration profile to follow based at least in part the maximum acceleration capability; and
control an acceleration of the vehicle based at least in part the desired acceleration profile.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the current state of the vehicle includes at least one of an internal vehicle state and an environmental condition.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the maximum acceleration capability is determined at least in part from one of a predicted set of torque response values, a vehicle mass, a road grade, a road surface mu, a pitch angle of the vehicle and a wheel radius.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the current state is at least one of a current vehicle speed, a current battery state of charge, a current wheel torque value, a torque balance distribution, a barometric pressure, a componentry status, a controller area network (CAN) bus status, a power supply level, an engine temperature, a fuel volatility rating, a fuel octane rating, a fuel additive, a humidity level, a combustion chamber deposit value, an altitude value and an engine age and a tire saturation value.

5. The system of claim 3 , wherein the predicted set of torque response values is based at least in part on the current state of the vehicle, a first set of torque values and a second set of torque values.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the computer is further programmed to identify the first set of torque values from a transient region of the predicted set of torque response values.

7. The system of claim 5 , wherein the computer is further programmed to identify the second set of torque values from a steady state region of the predicted set of torque response values.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computer is further programmed to determine the desired acceleration profile to follow from at least one of a map stored in the memory, a desired route to follow, the maximum acceleration capability of the vehicle, a communication from a second vehicle, a communication from an external road infrastructure system and an obstacle detection sensor.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the obstacle detection sensor includes at least one of a LIDAR sensor, a SONAR sensor and an optical range determination system.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computer is further programmed to select an at least one discrete value of the maximum acceleration capability;
send the at least one discrete value to a second computer; and
regenerate the maximum acceleration capability by interpolating the at least one discrete value of the maximum acceleration capability.

11. A method, comprising:
identifying a current state of a vehicle;
determining a maximum acceleration capability of the vehicle;
determining a desired acceleration profile to follow based at least in part the maximum acceleration capability; and
controlling an acceleration of the vehicle based at least in part the desired acceleration profile.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the current state of the vehicle includes at least one of an internal vehicle state and an environmental condition.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the maximum acceleration capability is determined at least in part from one of a predicted set of torque response values, a vehicle mass, a road grade, a road surface mu, a pitch angle of the vehicle and a wheel radius.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the current state is at least one of a current vehicle speed, a current battery state of charge, a current wheel torque value, a torque balance distribution, a barometric pressure, a componentry status, a controller area network (CAN) bus status, a power supply level, an engine temperature, a fuel volatility rating, a fuel octane rating, a fuel additive, a humidity level, a combustion chamber deposit value, an altitude value and an engine age and a tire saturation value.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the predicted set of torque response values is based at least in part on the current state of the vehicle, a first set of torque values and a second set of torque values.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising identifying the first set of torque values from a transient region of the predicted set of torque response values.

17. The method of claim 15 , further comprising identifying the second set of torque values from a steady state region of the predicted set of torque response values.

18. The method of claim 11 , further comprising determining the desired acceleration profile to follow from at least in part from one of a map stored in a memory, a desired route to follow, the maximum acceleration capability of the vehicle, a communication from a second vehicle, a communication from an external road infrastructure system and an obstacle detection sensor.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the obstacle detection sensor includes at least one of a LIDAR sensor, a SONAR sensor and an optical range determination system.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Pallett Tobias John
• Lin Hui
• Lauffer Scott J
• Elwart Shane
• Williams Wayne

Classifications

• B60W2520/16

  Pitch · CPC title

• B60W2552/40

  Coefficient of friction · CPC title

• B60W2556/45

  External transmission of data to or from the vehicle · CPC title

• B60W2510/244

  Charge state · CPC title

• B60W40/10

  related to vehicle motion · CPC title