Vehicle Control Apparatus Using Shift Lever Position to Prevent Excessive Acceleration

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing vehicle control apparatuses fail to accurately maintain inter-vehicle distance when the preceding vehicle is in neutral or reverse gear, leading to excessive acceleration of the own vehicle and decreased inter-vehicle distance.

Innovation Solution

The control apparatus includes an inter-vehicle distance detection device, a wireless device for acquiring preceding vehicle information, and an acceleration control device with first and second calculation means to calculate feedback and feedforward requested accelerations, setting feedforward acceleration to zero when the preceding vehicle is not accelerating, and using actual acceleration information to limit feedforward acceleration to prevent excessive inter-vehicle distance reduction.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Speed

If feedforward requested acceleration is calculated based on requested acceleration sent from the preceding vehicle, then the own vehicle can respond quickly to preceding vehicle acceleration requests, but the own vehicle accelerates excessively when the preceding vehicle is in neutral or reverse gear, causing inter-vehicle distance to decrease

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveresponse speed of own vehicle to preceding vehicle accelerationVSAvoidaccuracy of inter-vehicle distance maintenance
Core Design Contradiction:
SpeedVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The control apparatus acquires shift lever position information in advance and uses it to determine whether to trust the requested acceleration data from the preceding vehicle. By checking the shift lever position before applying feedforward acceleration, the system prevents erroneous acceleration when the preceding vehicle is in neutral or reverse gear, thus maintaining reliable inter-vehicle distance.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system combines feedforward control based on requested acceleration with feedback control based on actual acceleration and inter-vehicle distance monitoring. When the shift lever position indicates the preceding vehicle is not moving forward, the feedback mechanism overrides the feedforward signal, preventing excessive acceleration and maintaining accurate inter-vehicle distance.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

2Stability of the object's composition

If feedforward requested acceleration is calculated based on requested acceleration sent from the preceding vehicle, then the own vehicle can maintain smooth following behavior, but the own vehicle cannot accurately follow when the preceding vehicle travels rearward, causing inter-vehicle distance to decrease

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesmoothness of following behaviorVSAvoidaccuracy of following position
Core Design Contradiction:
Stability of the object's compositionVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The control apparatus acquires shift lever position information before calculating feedforward requested acceleration. By checking whether the shift lever is in the forward gear range, the system determines in advance whether to apply the requested acceleration signal, preventing erroneous following behavior when the preceding vehicle reverses.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system dynamically adjusts the feedforward requested acceleration based on the shift lever position. When the shift lever indicates forward gear, the full requested acceleration is applied for smooth following. When the shift lever indicates reverse or neutral, the feedforward acceleration is set to zero or overridden, allowing the system to adapt to different driving conditions and maintain accurate following position.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

Data Source

PatentEP3144198B1Control apparatus of vehicle
Publication Date: 2021.06.30 TOYOTA JIDOSHA KK
  • EP3144198B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3144198B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3144198B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

The invention relates to a control apparatus of a vehicle (10). The apparatus calculates a feedback requested acceleration for maintaining an inter-vehicle distance to a target distance and a feedforward requested acceleration for causing the own vehicle to travel following a communicating preceding vehicle (11) and calculates a requested acceleration of the own vehicle (10) on the basis of the feedback and feedforward requested accelerations. The apparatus executes a control that causes the own vehicle (10) to travel following the preceding vehicle (11) by controlling the acceleration of the own vehicle (10) such that the acceleration of the own vehicle corresponds to the requested acceleration of the own vehicle (10). The apparatus sets the feedforward requested acceleration to zero when a shift lever of the preceding vehicle (11) is positioned at a shift position other than a shift position that causes the preceding vehicle (11) to travel forward and the feedforward requested acceleration is larger than zero.