AU2018395066B2

AU2018395066B2 - Method and device for controlling vehicle

Info

Publication number: AU2018395066B2
Application number: AU2018395066A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Xiaofeng NIU; Tie ZHOU
Original assignee: Great Wall Motor Co Ltd
Current assignee: Great Wall Motor Co Ltd
Priority date: 2017-12-27
Filing date: 2018-12-26
Publication date: 2021-11-11
Anticipated expiration: 2038-12-26
Also published as: RU2742445C1; WO2019129091A1; AU2018395066A1; CN109334656A; CN109334656B

Abstract

Provided in the present invention are a method and device for controlling a vehicle, the vehicle comprising an angle determination module, a full-vehicle control module, a ramp start module and a hill descent control module, the method comprising: when a vehicle is driving with an off-road driving function turned on, detecting the on state of an off-road pavement cruise function; if the off-road pavement cruise function is in an on state, determining the driving gradient state of the vehicle by means of the angle determination module; if the vehicle is in a downhill driving state, the full-vehicle control module controlling the driving speed of the vehicle to be within a first preset threshold by means of the hill descent control module; if the vehicle is in an uphill driving state, controlling the driving state of the vehicle by means of the ramp start module; and if the vehicle is in a non-sloped driving state, controlling the driving state of the vehicle according to a preset control policy corresponding to the off-road driving function. The present invention solves the problem of a cruising function only being able to be used by a driver setting the speed in off-road conditions, which may cause harm to people and vehicles.

Description

METHOD AND DEVICE FOR CONTROLLING VEHICLE CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the priority to Chinese Patent Application No.

201711448130.1 filed by State Intellectual Property Office of The P.R.C on December 27, 2017,

and titled "METHOD AND DEVICE FOR CONTROLLING VEHICLE", the entire contents of

which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY

[0002] The disclosure relates to the field of vehicles, and includes a method and device

for controlling a vehicle.

BACKGROUND

[0003] In order to improve the traffic ability and the controllability of a vehicle under

off-road conditions, many vehicles are provided with a driving mode directed to the off-road

conditions, such as snow, sand, mud, rock and other road conditions, and driving performances

of the vehicle under the above off-road conditions are optimized by controlling a power system,

an all-wheel-drive system and an electronic stability program of the vehicle.

[0004] In the off-road driving mode assembled on the vehicle in the prior art, a main

control unit controls each system to switch to a corresponding mode after the driver turns on a

corresponding function under the corresponding off-road condition, and then the off-road

performance of the vehicle is improved by using pre-tuned performance parameters, that could

help experienced drivers to drive vehicles in the case of reasonable accelerator pedal, brake pedal

and steering input, and the vehicles could easily get through complicated off-road road

conditions, as shown in Table 1 below.

[0005] However, the vehicle may continuously pass through rough roads during running

in off-road (snow, mud, sand, and mountain roads) conditions. At this time, if a user lacks

driving experience or is not familiar with current road conditions, causes that the user does not

control the vehicle accurately. Even if the corresponding off-road mode is selected, there may

still have errors in timeliness of power outputs and braking requests, which may often cause the

vehicle could not pass smoothly during climbing, bumping and downhill, and slipping, sliding or

trapping and other situations will occur to the vehicle. Therefore, in an existing off-road mode

control system, a stability of the vehicle is controlled by a Hill Descent Control Module (HDC)

under a downhill road condition, but there is no effective control for a climbing condition. An

Automatic Vehicle Hold Module (AVH) and a Hill Hold Control Module (HHC) only help the

driver to start smoothly at an initial stage of hill climbing, and quit working after the vehicle

starting, so that it cannot be realized to control the vehicles accurately during the hill climbing. In

addition, the vehicle cannot perform automatic adaptive control on the current off-road road

condition under a relatively flat road condition. Although a Cruise Control/ Adaptive Cruise

Module (CC/ACC) can realize automatic control of a vehicle velocity, there may have certain

danger because of using the cruise function directly only depending on a velocity set by the

driver under the off-road road conditions, which may cause injury to people and vehicle.

SUMMARY

[00061 In view of this, there are problems in the prior art that a cruising function used

only according to the velocity set by a driver in an off-road condition cannot control the vehicle

to run in a stable state accurately, which may injury people and damage the vehicle.

[00071 In order to solve the above problem, one of the technical solutions provided by

the disclosure is implemented as follows:

[00081 The disclosure provides a method for controlling a vehicle, wherein the vehicle

includes an angle determination module, a vehicle control module, a hill hold control module and

a hill descent control module, and the method may include: when the vehicle is running with an

off-road running function turned on, detecting an on/off state of an off-road cruise control

function; if it is detected that the off-road cruise control function is in an on state, determining a

running gradient state of the vehicle via the angle determination module; if the vehicle is in a

downhill running state, controlling, by the vehicle control module, a running velocity of the

vehicle to be smaller than a first preset threshold via the hill descent control module; if the

vehicle is in an uphill running state, controlling a running state of the vehicle via the hill hold

control module; and if the vehicle is in a non-hill running state, controlling the running state of

the vehicle according to a preset control policy corresponding to the off-road running function.

[0009] Further, the method may further include: if it is detected that the off-road cruise

control function is in an off state, controlling the running state of the vehicle according to the

preset control policy corresponding to the off-road running function.

[0010] Further, the step of if the vehicle is in the downhill running state, controlling, by

the vehicle control module, the running velocity of the vehicle to be smaller than the first preset

threshold via the hill descent control module, may include: if the vehicle is in the downhill

running state, acquiring a current running velocity of the vehicle via the vehicle control module;

and if the running velocity exceeds the first preset threshold, triggering the hill descent control

module to call an Electronic Stability Program (ESP) to brake the vehicle until the current running velocity is smaller than the first preset threshold.

[0011] Further, the step of if the vehicle is in the uphill running state, controlling, by the

vehicle control module, the running state of the vehicle via the hill hold control module, may

include: if the vehicle is in the uphill running state, acquiring the running state of the vehicle and

an available torque of an engine by detecting vehicle running information of the vehicle; wherein

the vehicle running information comprises at least one of: an accelerator pedal opening signal, an

engine fault signal, a net torque signal, an engine rotating velocity signal and a gear signal; and

controlling, by the vehicle control module, a traction of the engine according to the running state

of the vehicle and the available torque of the engine, to control the running state of the vehicle.

[0012] Further, the step of if the vehicle is in the non-hill running state, controlling the

running state of the vehicle according to the preset control policy corresponding to the off-road

running function, may include: if the vehicle is in the non-hill running state, acquiring preset

parameters of an engine management system, a transmission control unit, an all-wheel-drive

system, a suspension, an electronic stability program and a human machine interface of the

vehicle according to a corresponding mode turned on by the off-road running function; and

controlling the running state of the vehicle according to the preset parameters of the systems of

the vehicle.

[0013] Compared with the prior art, the method for controlling the vehicle according to

the disclosure at least has the following advantages: when the existing off-road mode control

system is turned on, the running gradient state of the vehicle is determined by the angle

determination module; if the vehicle is in the downhill running state, the vehicle control module

controls the running velocity of the vehicle to be smaller than the first preset threshold via the

Hill Descent Control Module HDC; if the vehicle is in the uphill running state, the vehicle

control module controls the running state of the vehicle through the Hill Hold Control Module

HHC. The method integrates the existing HDC and HHC functions to control the vehicle to go

downhill, develops a new continuous control strategy for climbing to improve the safety of going

uphill, and develops a new velocity cruise control function under common off-road conditions to

realize vehicle velocity control and keep the power output stable. The method has the beneficial

effects of preventing the vehicle from losing control due to excessive velocity when going

downhill with excessive gradient, and controlling the vehicle to go uphill at a certain velocity

when going uphill, thus reducing the phenomenon of sliding or rushing slopes due to insufficient

or excessive power output caused by human intervention during climbing.

[0014] Another objective of the disclosure is to provide a device for controlling a vehicle,

wherein the vehicle includes an angle determination module, a vehicle control module, a hill

hold control module and a hill descent control module, and the device may include: a detection

module configured to, when the vehicle is running with an off-road running function turned on,

detect an on/off state of an off-road cruise control function; a gradient state determination

module configured to, if it is detected that the off-road cruise control function is in an on state,

determine a running gradient state of the vehicle via the angle determination module; a downhill

control module configured to, if the vehicle is in a downhill running state, control, by the vehicle

control module, a running velocity of the vehicle to be smaller than a first preset threshold via

the hill descent control module; an uphill control module configured to, if the vehicle is in an

uphill running state, control, by the vehicle control module, a running state of the vehicle via the

hill hold control module; and a non-hill running module configured to, if the vehicle is in a non-hill running state, control the running state of the vehicle according to a preset control policy corresponding to the off-road running function.

[0015] Further, the device may further include: an off-road running control module

configured to, if it is detected that the off-road cruise control function is in an off state, control

the running state of the vehicle according to the preset control policy corresponding to the

off-road running function.

[0016] Further, the downhill control module may include: a velocity acquisition

submodule configured to, if the vehicle is in the downhill running state, acquire a current running

velocity of the vehicle via the vehicle control module; and a velocity control submodule

configured to, if the running velocity exceeds the first preset threshold, trigger the hill descent

control module to call an electronic stability program to brake the vehicle until the current

running velocity is smaller than the first preset threshold.

[00171 Further, the uphill control module may include: a running state acquisition

submodule configured to, if the vehicle is in the uphill running state, acquire the running state of

the vehicle and an available torque of an engine by detecting vehicle running information of the

vehicle; wherein the vehicle running information comprises at least one of: an accelerator pedal

opening signal, an engine fault signal, a net torque signal, an engine rotating velocity signal and

a gear signal; and a control submodule configured to, control, by the vehicle control module, a

traction of the engine according to the driving state of the vehicle and the available torque of the

engine, to control the running state of the vehicle.

[00181 Further, the non-hill running module may include: a running parameter

acquisition submodule configured to, if the vehicle is in the non-hill running state, acquire preset parameters of an engine management system, a transmission control unit, an all-wheel-drive system, a suspension, an electronic stability program and a human machine interface of the vehicle according to a corresponding mode turned on by the off-road running function; and a vehicle control submodule configured to, control the running state of the vehicle according to the preset parameters of the systems of the vehicle.

[0019] The device for controlling the vehicle has the same advantages as that of the

above method for controlling the vehicle in comparison with the prior art, and will not be

repeated here.

[0020] The above description is only an overview of the technical solution of the

disclosure. In order to know the technical means of the disclosure more clearly so that the

technical means can be implemented according to the contents of the specification, and in order

to make the above and other objectives, features and advantages of the disclosure more obvious

and understandable, the specific embodiments of the disclosure are given below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] The drawings constituting a part of the disclosure are used to provide a further

understanding of the disclosure, and the illustrative embodiments of the disclosure and

descriptions thereof are used to explain the disclosure, and do not constitute an improper

limitation of the disclosure. In the drawings:

[0022] FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a method for controlling the vehicle according to a first

embodiment of the disclosure;

[00231 FIG. 2 is a flow schematic diagram of determining an OCC open state of the

vehicle control module according to the first embodiment of the disclosure;

[00241 FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing stress of the vehicle according to the first

embodiment of the disclosure;

[0025] FIG. 4 is a vehicle control architecture diagram according to the first embodiment

of the disclosure;

[00261 FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a method for controlling the vehicle according to a

second embodiment of the disclosure;

[00271 FIG. 6 is a structural block diagram of a device for controlling the vehicle

according to a third embodiment of the disclosure;

[00281 FIG. 7 is another structural block diagram of the device for controlling a vehicle

according to the third embodiment of the disclosure;

[0029] FIG. 8 schematically shows a block diagram of an electronic device for

performing the method according to the disclosure; and

[00301 FIG. 9 schematically shows a storage unit for holding or carrying a program code

for implementing the method according to the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[00311 Exemplary embodiments of the disclosure will be described in detail with

reference to the accompanying drawings hereinafter. Although the exemplary embodiments of

the disclosure are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, it shall be understood that the

disclosure may be embodied in many different forms and shall not be construed as being limited

to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that the

disclosure will be understood thoroughly and completely and will fully convey the scope of the

disclosure to those skilled in the art.

[00321 It should be noted that the embodiments of the disclosure and the features in the embodiments can be combined with each other without conflict.

[00331 Explanation of nouns:

[0034] EMS: Engine Management System

[00351 TCU: Transmission Control Unit

[00361 ESP: Electronic Stability Program

[0037] TCS: Traction Control System

[00381 OCC: Off-road Cruise Control

[00391 HDC: Hill Descent Control

[0040] AVH: Automatic Vehicle Hold

[0041] HHC: Hill Hold Control

[0042] CC/ACC: Cruise Control/Adaptive Cruise Control

[00431 VCU: Vehicle Control Unit

[0044] ABM: Airbag Module

[0045] HMI: Human Machine Interface

[0046] Off-road driving mode: in order to improve the traffic ability and the

controllability of a vehicle under off-road conditions, many main machine plants develop

off-road driving modes directed to the off-road conditions, so as to optimize performances of a

power system, an all-wheel-drive system and an electronic stability program of the vehicle, to

help drivers to run outside. At present, the typical driving modes under the off-road conditions

include snow, sand, mud and rock modes. The performance of the power system, the

all-wheel-drive system and the electronic stability program of the vehicle under each mode may

be described as follows: each driving mode is independently controlled by a knob switch or multiple buttons. When a driver turns on the corresponding driving mode under the off-road conditions, a main control unit controls each system to switch to a corresponding mode, and then the off-road performance of the vehicle is improved by using pre-tuned performance parameters, so that the vehicle may easily get through complicated off-road road conditions when drove by an experienced driver in the case of reasonable accelerator pedal, brake pedal and steering input, as shown in Table 1: Mode EMS TCU All-wheel-drive Suspension ESP Pedal map curve Standard considering Standard Real-time Standard Standard power, all-wheel-drive economy and comfort Gentle torque, low sensitivity Morepositive of an TCS is very accelerator Upshift early and respnsetsl Increase sensitive to pedal, and slow downshift late rendetive height slip rate and careful senitivt control response to torque Torque response is slow in an initial stage to Provide prevent maximumtorque More positive ESP is gouging, and as response to slip Icrease extremely Sand the torque asissi rate, and relatively . insensitive much as possible, rateiht response is upshiftlateand sensitive to eo slip rate faster at a high steering input control velocityto velocity to downshift early steignu prevent sand sinking

Reduce wheel More positive ESPis relatively Slow and torque in a high response to slip Ienstiveto Mud careful response gear,upshift rate, and .

to torque early and insensitive to height sliprate downshift late steering input control

Reduce wheel torque in a high gear,upshift Differential ESP is early and locking, relatively Rock carefulresponse downshift late, More positive Maximum sensitive to totorque,and and fix to first response to slip height slip rate low velocity gear when rate control selecting a low gear

Table 1

[00471 The disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings

and the embodiments.

[0048] First embodiment

[0049] Refer to FIG. 1, which is a flow chart of a method for controlling the vehicle according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The vehicle includes an angle determination

module, a vehicle control module, a hill hold control module and a hill descent control module, and the method may specifically include the following steps:

[0050] In step 101, when the vehicle is running with an off-road running function turned on, detecting an on/off state of an off-road cruise control function.

[0051] In the embodiment of the disclosure, the Off-road Cruise Control function (OCC)

is developed based on an existing off-road mode control system, which integrates existing HDC

and HHC functions to control the vehicle to go downhill. When the vehicle is started, the vehicle

control module further detects whether the off-road cruise control function is in the on state by

detecting a turned-on signal of the off-road cruise control function. Wherein, when a driver

operates a driving mode switch, a switch module sends a driving mode switch signal (Driving

Mode) to a Body Control Module (BCM) via a Local Interconnect Network (LIN) bus. The

BCM converts the driving mode switch signal (Driving Mode) into a mode signal (DrvMod) and

forwards the mode signal to a Control unit Area Network (CAN) bus, and then the CAN

forwards the mode signal (DrvMod) to the vehicle control module. The vehicle control module sends a mode request signal (VCUDrvMod) to each subsystem, and after each subsystem responds correctly according to the mode request signal of a vehicle control unit, each subsystem feeds back a state signal thereof to the vehicle control module. At this moment, a main control module sends a mode display signal to an Instrument Panel (IP). For example, as shown in FIG.

2, the vehicle is running in a certain driving mode. When an OCC switch is pressed, an off-road

cruise switch signal (OffRoad_CC) is sent to the Body Control Module (BCM) via a LIN line.

The Body Control Module (BCM) converts the off-road cruise switch signal (OffRoadCC) into

an off-road cruise signal (OffRoadCC_Req) and forwards the signal to the CAN bus. The

vehicle control module receives this signal to determine an off-road cruise request of the driver.

[0052] In practical application, a command to start the off-road cruise control function

may be generated by triggering the off-road cruise control function switch, and the command to

start the off-road cruise control function may be triggered by a preset off-road cruise control

function switch, and the switch may be a physical button set on a control panel of the vehicle or a

touch button set on a touch screen of a driving computer, which is not limited by the embodiment

of the disclosure.

[00531 In step 102, if it is detected that the off-road cruise control function is in the on

state, determining the running gradient state of the vehicle via the angle determination module.

[0054] In the embodiment of the disclosure, if it is detected that the off-road cruise

control function is in the on state, i.e., it is detected that the OCC switch is pressed, and when

OffRoadCC_Req=active, the vehicle control module acquires a current inclination angle of the

vehicle via the angle determination module, and determines a gradient of a current road condition

of the vehicle according to the current inclination angle. Wherein, when running on the road, the vehicle needs to overcome a rolling resistance Ff from the ground and an air resistance Fw from the air; when running uphill on a ramp, the vehicle needs to overcome a gradient resistance

Fi; when accelerating, the vehicle also needs to overcome an acceleration resistance Fj, as

shown in FIG.3.

[0055] EF Fw + F + F + Ff (1) 1 F= -CdApu

[00561 2 (2)

[0057] F1 = Gsina (3)

[00581 Ff = pGcosa (4)

[0059] wherein:

[00601 Fw--air resistance, which may be calculated via an air resistance coefficient Cd, a

windward area A of the vehicle, an air density P and a relative velocity P. This resistance may

be calculated by a formula in actual development, and this resistance is not reflected in the

subsequent calculation for the convenience of formula expression in this design.

[00611 F 1 -- gradient resistance, wherein a component force of a vehicle gravity along

the ramp is represented as a gradient resistance of the vehicle, G is the gravity acting on the

vehicle, G = mg, m is a mass of the vehicle, g is an acceleration of gravity, and a is the

gradient.

[0062] Fj -- acceleration resistance, wherein when accelerating, the vehicle needs to

overcome an inertia force of the mass of the vehicle. The disclosure aims to control the vehicle to

go uphill at a constant velocity (or with a small acceleration), so the acceleration resistance is not

calculated in an inclination angle determination module, but it is considered in the off-road

cruise module.

[00631 Ff -- rolling resistance, wherein the component force of the vehicle gravity

perpendicular to a ramp pavement is Gcosa, and a friction coefficient of the pavement is p.

[0064] When the vehicle starts on a ramp or runs at a certain velocity, the following

formula is given:

[0065] EF = Ff + Fw + Fi + F = Fi + Ff = mgsina + pmgcosa (5)

[0066] The following formula can be obtained by variation:

[0067] gsina + pgcosa = a (6)

[00681 The current acceleration a of the vehicle can be known by viewing an Ax signal

value LgtAccel sent by an Airbag Module (ABM) on the CAN bus, so:

[0069] when the vehicle is stationary on the ramp, LgtAccel= gsina, and a ramp angle

a can be calculated at this time;

[0070] when the vehicle is running on the ramp at a certain velocity,

LgtAccel= gsina + tgcosa, the ramp angle a can be calculated at this time.

[0071] According to the comparison between the ramp angle a and a preset threshold, it

can be specifically known that whether a current gradient state of the vehicle is in an uphill,

downhill or gentle road condition. In an embodiment, a scope of the preset threshold is, for

example, 0 5%.

[0072] In step 103, if the vehicle is in a downhill running state, the vehicle control

module controls a running velocity of the vehicle to be smaller than a first preset threshold via

the hill descent control module.

[00731 In the embodiment of the disclosure, as shown in FIG. 4, if an angle

determination module detects that the vehicle is in the downhill state, a Vehicle Control Unit

(VCU) coordinates each subsystem according to a downhill control mode, for example, sending a

control signal of a current driving mode of the vehicle (for example, the driving mode

corresponding to off-road conditions) to an Engine Management System (EMS), a Transmission

Control Unit (TCU), an all-wheel-drive control module, a vehicle suspension state and an

electronic stability program to execute a preset strategy of the corresponding mode (as described

in Table 1). When it is detected that the vehicle goes downhill, the vehicle may be controlled

according to a hill descent function. In an embodiment, the mode at this time can be independent

of the current driving mode of the vehicle. The hill descent function will work when detecting

that the vehicle goes downhill.

[0074] In step 104, if the vehicle is in an uphill running state, controlling a running state

of the vehicle by the vehicle control module via the hill hold control module.

[00751 In the embodiment of the disclosure, as shown in FIG. 4, if the angle

determination module detects that the vehicle is in the uphill state, a Vehicle Control Unit (VCU)

coordinates each subsystem according to a uphill control mode, for example, sending a control

signal of a current driving mode of the vehicle (for example, the driving mode corresponding to

off-road conditions) to the Engine Management System (EMS), the Transmission Control Unit

TCU, the all-wheel-drive control module, the vehicle suspension state and the electronic stability

program to execute a preset strategy of the corresponding mode (as described in Table 1).

[00761 In step 105, if the vehicle is in a non-hill running state, controlling the running

state of the vehicle according to a preset control policy corresponding to the off-road running

function.

[00771 In the embodiment of the disclosure, as shown in FIG. 4, if the angle

determination module detects that the vehicle is in the non-hill working condition, then it is

determined that the driver has an off-road cruise request, and the Vehicle Control Unit (VCU)

coordinates each subsystem according to an off-road cruise control mode, for example, sending a

corresponding to off-road conditions) to the Engine Management System (EMS), the

Transmission Control Unit (TCU), the all-wheel-drive control module, the vehicle suspension

state and the electronic stability program to execute a preset strategy of the corresponding mode

(as described in Table 1). In an embodiment, the off-road cruise mode is a mode parallel to the

driving mode, as shown in FIG. 2, when the off-road cruise request is activated, a driving mode

signal will not be activated.

[00781 In the embodiment of the disclosure, when the vehicle is running with the off-road

running function turned on, the on/off state of the off-road cruise control function is detected; if

it is detected that the off-road cruise control function is in the on state, the running gradient state

of the vehicle is determined via the angle determination module; if the vehicle is in the downhill

running state, the vehicle control module controls the running velocity of the vehicle to be

smaller than the first preset threshold via the hill descent control module; if the vehicle is in the

uphill running state, the running state of the vehicle is controlled via the hill hold control module;

and if the vehicle is in the non-hill running state, the running state of the vehicle is controlled

according to the preset control policy corresponding to the off-road running function. Under the

off-road conditions, achieves the aims to control the vehicle velocity and keep the power output

stable.

[00791 Second embodiment

[0080] Refer to FIG. 5, which is a flow chart of the method for controlling the vehicle

according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The vehicle includes an angle determination

module, a vehicle control module, a hill hold control module and a hill descent control module,

and the method may specifically include the following steps.

[00811 In step 201, when the vehicle is running with an off-road running function turned

on, detecting an on/off state of an off-road cruise control function.

[0082] This step is the same as the step 101, and will not be repeated herein.

[00831 In step 202, if it is detected that the off-road cruise control function is in the on

state, determining a running gradient state of the vehicle via the angle determination module.

[0084] This step is the same as the step 102, and will not be repeated herein.

[00851 In step 203, if the vehicle is in a downhill running state, acquiring a current

running velocity of the vehicle via the vehicle control module.

[00861 In the embodiment of the disclosure, if the vehicle is in the downhill running state,

the measured current running velocity is acquired via a sensing element installed on the current

vehicle.

[00871 In step 204, if the current running velocity exceeds the first preset threshold,

triggering the hill descent control module to call an Electronic Stability Program (ESP) to brake

the vehicle until the current running velocity is smaller than the first preset threshold.

[00881 In the embodiment of the disclosure, when the vehicle velocity exceeds a certain

threshold (e.g., 8 kph), i.e., the first threshold, the function of the Hill Descent Control Module

(HDC) is triggered, and a braking pressure is applied via the ESP system to control the vehicle velocity to be within a certain scope, e.g., 8 kph 1 kph. When the vehicle velocity exceeds 60 kph, this function will be turned off. If the function needs to be used, it is necessary to press a corresponding switch button of the hill descent control module again to turn on this function.

[00891 In step 205, if the vehicle is in the uphill running state, acquiring the running state

of the vehicle and an available torque of an engine by detecting vehicle running information of

the vehicle, wherein, the vehicle running information comprises at least one of: an accelerator

pedal opening signal, an engine fault signal, a net torque signal, an engine rotating velocity

signal and a gear signal.

[0090] In the embodiment of the disclosure, when the angle determination module

determines that the vehicle is in the uphill running state, in order to ensure that the vehicle does

not slip downhill and is stable, the vehicle starts at a certain acceleration:

[0091] a. The vehicle control unit determines an intention of a driver and the available

torque of the current engine according to the accelerator pedal opening signal, an engine net

torque signal, the rotating velocity signal and the gear signal. In an embodiment, an external

characteristic of the engine is that the current engine torque may be acquired at a certain rotating

velocity and a certain accelerator pedal opening, and then the above data may be acquired

according to an engine efficiency and mechanical losses measured by experiments. In addition,

the above signals already exist in a CAN network, so the signals can be easily acquired.

[0092] b. The vehicle control unit identifies a motion state and a wheel slip rate of the

vehicle according to wheel velocity signals of four wheels, YawRate signals of the vehicle,

handbrake or EPB operation signals and brake lamp signals;.

[00931 c. The gradient c is calculated by combining a longitudinal acceleration signal

LgtAccel of the vehicle. A force that the engine needs to overcome when the vehicle starts is

mgsina.

[0094] d. When the vehicle starts, the vehicle generates a certain acceleration a, and the

vehicle control unit sets a to be within a certain scope (e.g., 0.2 g-0.3 g). At this time, the engine

needs to provide a traction as shown in formula (7), and the vehicle control unit automatically

controls the engine velocity and a target gear to ensure the engine traction.

[0095] Ft = F 1+ Ff + ma = mgsina + imgcosa + ma (7)

[00961 In step 206, the vehicle control module controls the engine traction according to

the driving state of the vehicle and the available torque of the engine, to control the running state

of the vehicle.

[0097] In the embodiment of the disclosure, after the vehicle starts, the vehicle runs

upward at a constant velocity, and the velocity scope may be set by developers. According to

formula (5), the traction that the engine needs to provide at this time is m s«+ Ym9cosa, and the

vehicle control unit automatically controls the engine velocity and the target gear to ensure the

engine traction, thereby controlling the running state of the vehicle to be stable.

[00981 In step 207, if the vehicle is in the non-hill running state, acquiring preset

vehicle according to a corresponding mode turned on by the off-road running function.

[0099] In the embodiment of the disclosure, when the angle determination module

determines that the current inclination angle of the vehicle is within a certain scope or the vehicle has no inclination angle, it is determined that the vehicle is on a flat road. If the OCC switch is still pressed at this time, it is considered that the driver requests the off-road cruise control function.

[00100] When OffRoadCCReq=active, the vehicle control unit may calculate a traction

currently needed by the engine according to formula (1), and then acquire a required torque, and

control each system to coordinate as follows:

[00101] EMS system: responds to a torque request sent by the vehicle control unit, outputs

an actual torque which is constant or within a certain fluctuation scope. In an embodiment, the

actual torque may be directly collected from the CAN network.

[00102] TCU system: responds to a gear control sent by the vehicle control unit, and

controls a current gear and a target gear of the vehicle according to an engine rotating velocity,

an accelerator pedal depth and vehicle velocity information.

[00103] All-wheel-drive system: responds to a driving instruction of the vehicle control

unit. Meanwhile, the vehicle enters a low-velocity all-wheel-drive mode, a central differential is

locked, and the vehicle enters a full-time all-wheel-drive mode.

[00104] Suspension: raises to the highest

[00105] ESP system: detects a wheel state, controls a wheel slip rate to be within a certain

scope, and prevents power losses caused by excessive wheel slip. The certain scope herein, for

example, is 10%-18%, but may also be set by the developer or acquired by looking up a table,

and the scope may change according to the vehicle velocity and deceleration at any time. An

overall principle is to ensure that a longitudinal force of tires contacted with ground is utilized to

the maximum extent, so as to shorten a braking distance, and ensure a certain steering ability.

[001061 k--wheel slip rate, -co<25100%

V - tor A= x 100%

[00107] V (8)

[00108] wherein, V is the vehicle velocity, r is a rolling radius of the tire, and (o is a wheel

rotating velocity.

[001091 The vehicle slip rate may be represented as:

[00110] -o 0 '1 (wheel slip rate)

[00111] Wheel slipping free rolling wheel locking

[00112] HMI system: There will be indicator lights on the instrument to indicate an

off-road progress state, showing the gradient, going uphill or downhill, a current velocity set by

the driver and a safe velocity scope default by the system.

[00113] In the off-road cruise mode, all subsystems work together via corresponding

responses, so that the vehicle can automatically control a throttle opening and brake on different

off-road pavements to keep the vehicle running at a constant velocity, and the driver is only

responsible for mastering directions.

[00114] In step 208, controlling the running state of the vehicle according to present

parameters of the systems of the vehicle.

[00115] In the embodiment of the disclosure, as described in the above steps, the systems,

such as the EMS system, the TCU system, the all-wheel-drive system, the suspension, the ESP

system and the HMI system, work according to the corresponding parameters of the preset mode

to ensure the vehicle to run in a stable state. The preset mode herein may be a non-hill pavement

where the vehicle is in the off-road mode, at which time the torque control is performed according to the vehicle velocity selected by the driver, and the control process is such as the uphill traction torque calculation process. The corresponding parameters are torque parameters that are actually calculated.

[00116] In step 209, if it is detected that the off-road cruise control function is in the off

state, controlling the running state of the vehicle according to the preset control policy

corresponding to the off-road running function.

[001171 In the embodiment of the disclosure, when an OCC determination module in the

vehicle control unit detects that the OCC switch is not pressed, and OffRoadCCReq=not active,

the vehicle will be controlled according to the driving mode switch signal such as each off-road

running mode shown in Table 1. The vehicle control module sends corresponding signals to each

system, and controls each system, such as the EMS system, the TCU system, the all-wheel-drive

system, the suspension, the ESP system and the HMI system to work according to preset modes,

so as to ensure that the vehicle is running in a stable state.

[001181 In the embodiment of the disclosure, the state of the vehicle is determined by

calculating the inclination angle of the vehicle via sensors on the existing vehicle and CAN bus

signals; when it is detected that the vehicle is in the uphill state, the vehicle control unit

calculates a climbing torque when starting and a traction torque when running stably after

starting so as to control the vehicle to climb stably; when it is detected that the vehicle is in the

downhill state, the vehicle control unit detects the vehicle velocity information and controls a

brake actuator through the ESP to ensure the downhill velocity; when it is detected that the

vehicle is on the flat pavement and the driver has the off-road cruise request, the vehicle control

unit controls each power system and all-wheel-drive hardware of the vehicle to enter the off-road mode, and reduces the slip of the vehicle via the ESP system, thereby realizing more accurate vehicle cruise control under off-road conditions.

[00119] Third embodiment

[00120] Refer to FIG. 6, which is a structural block diagram of a device for controlling a

vehicle according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The vehicle includes an angle

determination module, a vehicle control module, a hill hold control module and a hill descent

control module, and the device may specifically include the following modules:

[00121] a detection module 301, a gradient state determination module 302, a downhill

control module 303, an uphill control module 304 and a non-hill running module 305.

[00122] With reference to FIG. 7, functions of each module and interaction between each

module are described in detail below.

[001231 The detection module 301 is configured to, when the vehicle is running with an

off-road running function turned on, detect an on/off state of an off-road cruise control function;

[00124] the gradient state determination module 302 is configured to, if it is detected that

the off-road cruise control function is in the on state, determine a running gradient state of the

vehicle via the angle determination module;

[00125] the downhill control module 303 is configured to, if the vehicle is in a downhill

running state, control, by the vehicle control module, a running velocity of the vehicle to be

smaller than a first preset threshold via the hill descent control module;

[001261 the uphill control module 304 is configured to, if the vehicle is in an uphill

running state, control, by the vehicle control module, a running state of the vehicle via the hill

hold control module; and

[001271 the non-hill running module 305 is configured to, if the vehicle is in a non-hill

running state, control the running state of the vehicle according to a preset control policy

corresponding to the off-road running function.

[00128] Preferably, the downhill control module 303 includes:

[00129] a velocity acquisition submodule configured to, if the vehicle is in the downhill

running state, acquire a current running velocity of the vehicle via the vehicle control module;

and

[001301 a velocity control submodule configured to, if the current running velocity

exceeds the first preset threshold, trigger the hill descent control module to call an Electronic

Stability Program (ESP) to brake the vehicle until the current running velocity is smaller than the

first preset threshold.

[001311 Preferably, the uphill control module 304 includes:

[00132] a driving state acquisition submodule configured to, if the vehicle is in the uphill

running state, acquire the running state of the vehicle and an available torque of an engine by

detecting vehicle running information of the vehicle; wherein, the vehicle running information

comprises at least one of: an accelerator pedal opening signal, an engine fault signal, a net torque

signal, an engine rotating velocity signal and a gear signal; and

[00133] a control submodule configured to, control, by the vehicle control module, a

traction of the engine according to the running state of the vehicle and the available torque of the

engine, to control the driving state of the vehicle.

[00134] Preferably, the non-hill running module 305 includes:

[001351 a running parameter acquisition submodule configured to, if the vehicle is in the non-hill running state, acquire preset parameters of an engine management system, a transmission control unit, an all-wheel-drive system, a suspension, an electronic stability program and a human machine interface of the vehicle according to a corresponding mode turned on by the off-road running function; and

[00136] a vehicle control submodule configured to, control the running state of the vehicle

according to the preset parameters of the systems of the vehicle.

[001371 Preferably, the device for controlling the vehicle further includes:

[001381 an off-road running control module 306 configured to, if it is detected that the

off-road cruise control function is in an off state, control the running state of the vehicle

according to the preset control policy corresponding to the off-road running function.

[001391 In the embodiment of the disclosure, the state of the vehicle is determined by

unit controls each power system and all-wheel-drive hardware of the vehicle to enter the off-road

mode, and reduces the slip of the vehicle via the ESP system, thereby realizing more accurate

vehicle cruise control under off-road conditions.

[00140] The device embodiments described above are only exemplary, in which the units illustrated as separation parts may either be or not physically separated, and the parts displayed as units may either be or not, i.e., they may be located in one place or distributed to multiple network units. Some or all of the modules may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the objectives of the solutions in the embodiments. Those with ordinary skills in the art can understand and implement without going through any creative efforts.

[00141] Each of parts according to the disclosure may be implemented by hardware, or

implemented by software modules operated on one or more processors, or implemented by the

combination thereof. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that a microprocessor or a Digital

Signal Processor (DSP) may be used in practice to implement some or all of the functions of

some or all of the members in the electronic device according to the embodiments of the

disclosure. The disclosure may further be implemented as a device or apparatus program (for

example, computer program and computer program product) for executing some or all of the

methods as described herein. Such program for implementing the disclosure may be stored in the

computer readable medium, or have a form of one or more signals. Such a signal may be

downloaded from the Internet websites, or be provided in a carrier signal, or be provided in other

manners.

[00142] For example, FIG. 8 shows an electronic device capable of implementing the

method for controlling the vehicle according to the disclosure, for example, an on-board

computer. The electronic device conventionally includes a processor 1010 and a computer

program product or computer readable medium in the form of a memory 1020. The memory

1020 may be electronic memories such as flash memory, EEPROM (Electrically Erasable

Programmable Read - Only Memory), EPROM, hard disk or ROM. The memory 1020 has a memory space 1030 for executing program codes 1031 of any steps in the above method. For example, the memory space 1030 for program codes may include respective program codes 1031 for implementing the respective steps in the above method. These program codes may be read from and/or be written into one or more computer program products. These computer program products include program code carriers such as hard disk, compact disk (CD), memory card or floppy disk. These computer program products are usually the portable or stable memory cells as shown in reference FIG. 9. The storage unit may have storage segments, storage spaces, and the like arranged similarly to the memory 1020 in the electronic device of FIG. 8. The program codes may be compressed for example in an appropriate form. Generally, the storage unit includes computer readable codes 1031', i.e., codes readable by a processor such as 1010. These codes, when executed by the electronic device, cause the electronic device to execute various steps in the method described above.

[00143] The "an embodiment", "embodiments" or "one or more embodiments" mentioned

in the disclosure means that the specific features, structures or performances described in

combination with the embodiment(s) are included in at least one embodiment of the disclosure.

Moreover, it shall be noted that, the wording "in an embodiment" herein may not necessarily

refer to the same embodiment.

[00144] Many details are discussed in the description provided herein. However, it shall

be understood that the embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented without these specific

details. In some examples, the well-known methods, structures and technologies are not shown in

detail so as to avoid an unclear understanding of the description.

[00145] It shall be noted that the above embodiments are intended to illustrate but not to limit the disclosure, and alternative embodiments may be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of claims as appended. In the claims, any reference symbols between brackets form no limit of the claims. The wording "include" does not exclude the presence of elements or steps not listed in a claim. The wording "a" or "an" in front of an element does not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements. The disclosure may be realized by means of hardware comprising a number of different components and by means of a suitably programmed computer. In the unit claim listing a plurality of devices, some of these devices may be embodied in the same hardware. The wordings "first", "second", and "third", etc. do not denote any order. These wordings may be interpreted as a name.

[00146] In addition, it shall be noted that the language used in the description is chosen for

the purpose of readability and teaching, rather than explaining or defining the subject matter of

the disclosure. Therefore, it is apparent for those of ordinary skills in the art that modifications

and variations may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the claims as

appended. For the scope of the disclosure, the publication of the disclosure is illustrative rather

than restrictive, and the scope of the disclosure is defined by the appended claims.

[001471 It should be finally noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate

the technical solution of the disclosure, rather than limiting the disclosure. Although the

disclosure has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those with

ordinary skills in the art should understand that: the technical solutions described in the

foregoing embodiments can be still modified or some of the technical features can be

equivalently replaced; however, these modifications or substitutions shall not depart from the

spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the disclosure.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A method for controlling a vehicle, wherein the vehicle comprises an angle determination module, a vehicle control module, a hill hold control module and a hill descent control module, and the method comprises: when the vehicle is running with an off-road running function turned on, detecting an on/off state of an off-road cruise control function; if it is detected that the off-road cruise control function is in an on state, determining a running gradient state of the vehicle via the angle determination module; if the vehicle is in a downhill running state, controlling, by the vehicle control module, a running velocity of the vehicle to be smaller than a first preset threshold via the hill descent control module; if the vehicle is in an uphill running state, controlling, by the vehicle control module, a running state of the vehicle via the hill hold control module; if the vehicle is in a non-hill running state, controlling the running state of the vehicle according to a preset control policy corresponding to the off-road running function; and if it is detected that the off-road cruise control function is in an off state, controlling the running state of the vehicle according to the preset control policy corresponding to the off-road running function.

2. The method for controlling the vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the step of if the vehicle is in the downhill running state, controlling, by the vehicle control module, the running velocity of the vehicle to be smaller than the first preset threshold via the hill descent control module, comprises: if the vehicle is in the downhill running state, acquiring a current running velocity of the vehicle via the vehicle control module; and if the current running velocity exceeds the first preset threshold, triggering the hill descent control module to call an electronic stability program to brake the vehicle until the current running velocity is smaller than the first preset threshold.

3. The method for controlling the vehicle according to claims 1 or 2, wherein the step of if the vehicle is in the uphill running state, controlling, by the vehicle control module, the running state of the vehicle via the hill hold control module, comprises: if the vehicle is in the uphill running state, acquiring the running state of the vehicle and an available torque of an engine by detecting vehicle running information of the vehicle; wherein the vehicle running information comprises at least one of: an accelerator pedal opening signal, an engine fault signal, a net torque signal, an engine rotating velocity signal and a gear signal; and controlling, by the vehicle control module, a traction of the engine according to the driving state of the vehicle and the available torque of the engine, to control the running state of the vehicle.

4. The method for controlling the vehicle according to claims 1 to 3, wherein the step of if the vehicle is in the non-hill running state, controlling the running state of the vehicle according to the preset control policy corresponding to the off-road running function, comprises: if the vehicle is in the non-hill running state, acquiring preset parameters of an engine management system, a transmission control unit, an all-wheel-drive system, a suspension, an electronic stability program and a human machine interface of the vehicle according to a corresponding mode turned on by the off-road running function; and controlling the running state of the vehicle according to the preset parameters of the systems of the vehicle.

5. A device for controlling a vehicle, wherein the vehicle comprises an angle determination module, a vehicle control module, a hill hold control module and a hill descent control module, and the device comprises: a detection module configured to, when the vehicle is running with an off-road running function turned on, detect an on/off state of an off-road cruise control function; a gradient state determination module configured to, if it is detected that the off-road cruise control function is in an on state, determine a running gradient state of the vehicle via the angle determination module; a downhill control module configured to, if the vehicle is in a downhill running state, control, by the vehicle control module, a running velocity of the vehicle to be smaller than a first preset threshold via the hill descent control module; an uphill control module configured to, if the vehicle is in an uphill running state, control, by the vehicle control module, a running state of the vehicle via the hill hold control module; a non-hill running module configured to, if the vehicle is in a non-hill running state, control the running state of the vehicle according to a preset control policy corresponding to the off-road running function; and an off-road running control module configured to, if it is detected that the off-road cruise control function is in an off state, control the running state of the vehicle according to the preset control policy corresponding to the off-road running function.

6. The device for controlling the vehicle according to claim 5, wherein the downhill control module comprises: a velocity acquisition submodule configured to, if the vehicle is in the downhill running state, acquire a current running velocity of the vehicle via the vehicle control module; and a velocity control submodule configured to, if the current running velocity exceeds the first preset threshold, trigger the hill descent control module to call an electronic stability program to brake the vehicle until the current running velocity is smaller than the first preset threshold.

7. The device for controlling the vehicle according to claims 5 or 6, wherein the uphill control module comprises: a driving state acquisition submodule configured to, if the vehicle is in the uphill running state, acquire the running state of the vehicle and an available torque of an engine by detecting vehicle running information of the vehicle; wherein the vehicle running information comprises at least one of: an accelerator pedal opening signal, an engine fault signal, a net torque signal, an engine rotating velocity signal and a gear signal; and a control submodule configured to, control, by the vehicle control module, a traction of the engine according to the driving state of the vehicle and the available torque of the engine, to control the driving state of the vehicle.

8. The device for controlling the vehicle according to claims 5 to 7, wherein the non-hill running module comprises: a running parameter acquisition submodule configured to, if the vehicle is in the non-hill running state, acquire preset parameters of an engine management system, a transmission control unit, an all wheel-drive system, a suspension, an electronic stability program and a human machine interface of the vehicle according to a corresponding mode turned on by the off-road running function; and a vehicle control submodule configured to, control the running state of the vehicle according to the preset parameters of the systems of the vehicle.

9. A computer program, comprising a computer readable code that, when the computer readable code executed on an electronic device, causes the electronic device to perform the method for controlling the vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

10. A computer readable medium, storing the computer program according to claim 9.