Systems and methods for operating a driveline of a hybrid vehicle are presented. In one example, a boost phase of a procedure to close a driveline disconnect clutch may be cut short in response to an engine changing state from not rotating to rotating so that the engine may be restarted in an alternative way. The system and methods may also predict a degraded engine start from a low engine cranking speed or a long cranking time duration so that the engine may be started in an alternative way to increase a possibility of starting the engine and decrease the severity of degraded driveline disturbance.

A method of controlling a hybrid vehicle including an engine, a motor, and a friction engagement element provided between the engine and the motor so as to be engageable and disengageable, is provided. An engine startup control for starting the engine stopped is performed to switch a traveling mode. The method includes raising an engine speed by cranking of the motor, while shifting the friction engagement element from a disengaged state to an engaged state, when the engine startup control is started, temporarily reducing an engaging torque of the friction engagement element, after the engine speed is raised by the cranking of the motor and before the engine speed coincides with a motor rotational speed, and raising the engaging torque to set the friction engagement element to a fully engaged state, after the temporarily reducing the engaging torque and the engine speed coincides with the motor rotational speed.

A powertrain for a vehicle may include a motor; a planetary gear set mounted to rotate parallel to a rotation shaft of the motor so that one rotation element may exchange power with the motor; a front wheel driveshaft engaged to the planetary gear set to receive power from another rotation element of the planetary gear set and to transfer a rotating force to a front wheel coupled to the front wheel driveshaft; and a rear wheel driveshaft engaged to the planetary gear set and mounted to receive power from the other rotation element of the planetary gear set to rotate parallel to the rotation shaft of the motor, and to transfer a rotating force to a rear wheel coupled to the rear wheel driveshaft.

The technology relates to enhancing or extending the field of view of sensors for vehicles configured to operate in an autonomous driving mode. One or more mirrors are used to reflect or redirect beams emitted from onboard sensors that would otherwise be wasted, for instance due to obstruction by a portion of the vehicle or because they are emitted at high pitch angles to the side. The mirrors are also used to redirect incoming beams from the external environment toward one or more of the onboard sensors. Using mirrors for such redirection can reduce or eliminate blind spots around the vehicle. A calibration system may be employed to account for mirror movement due to vibration or wind drag. Each mirror may be a front surface mirror. The mirrors may be positioned on the vehicle body, on a faring, or extending from a sensor housing on the vehicle.

A transmission assembly for a work vehicle having an engine includes a variator operably connected to the engine, a gear arrangement configured to provide a selective gear reduction for transmission of output power from the variator to an output shaft, and an electrical machine unit. The electrical machine unit further includes a main shaft operably connected to the variator, a first rotor configured to rotatably drive a first shaft, a second rotor configured to rotatably drive a second shaft, and a clutch configured to selectively couple the first shaft or the second shaft, or both the first shaft and the second shaft, to the main shaft. The clutch, the first rotor, and the second rotor are operable to control a speed and rotational direction of the main shaft in providing rotational power to the variator.

A hybrid electric vehicle includes a control device that selectively executes a plurality of traveling modes. The control device can execute a process of acquiring a predicted traveling route, a process of specifying a required traveling energy required for traveling a specific section in an EV traveling mode, a process of setting a target value and at least one threshold value for the remaining battery charge amount, and a process of determining a traveling mode to be executed from among a plurality of traveling modes until the hybrid electric vehicle enters the specific section.

A vehicle is operable in three modes of operation. The vehicle includes a first electromagnetic device, a second electromagnetic device electrically coupled to the first electromagnetic device, and an engine coupled to the first electromagnetic device and configured to drive the first electromagnetic device to provide electrical energy. In each of the three modes of operation, whenever the engine drives the first electromagnetic device to provide the electrical energy, the first electromagnetic device operates without providing the electrical energy to an energy storage device.

A driving/braking force control apparatus includes a front-wheel longitudinal force generator, a rear-wheel longitudinal force generator, a tire slip angle output unit, a tire lateral force output unit, a slip ratio output unit, a tire lateral force change rate output unit, a target yaw moment setting unit, and a driving/braking force distribution control unit. The driving/braking force distribution control unit performs a control of an output allocation ratio between the front-wheel longitudinal force generator and the rear-wheel longitudinal force generator based on a target value of an additional yaw moment, a change rate of a tire lateral force of a front wheel to a slip ratio of the front wheel, and a change rate of a tire lateral force of a rear wheel to a slip ratio of the rear wheel.

A fire fighting vehicle includes a powertrain including an engine, a battery pack, and an electromechanical transmission; a power divider; and a controller. The power divider is positioned between the engine, the pump, and the electromechanical transmission. The controller is configured to monitor a state-of-charge of the battery pack and operate the engine, the power divider, and the electromechanical transmission such that the state-of-charge is maintained above a minimum state-of-charge threshold that is sufficient to facilitate (i) accelerating the fire fighting vehicle to a driving speed of at least 50 miles-per-hour in an acceleration time and (ii) maintaining or exceeding the driving speed for a period of time. An aggregate of the acceleration time and the period of time is at least three minutes.

A method of controlling a hybrid power train may include: driving a first input shaft connected to a second motor-generator by the second motor-generator to synchronize a speed of a driven gear of a target gear position with a speed of an output shaft; moving a sleeve to directly connect the second input shaft, the output shaft, and the driven gear of the target gear position; decreasing torque of the first motor-generator and increasing torque of the second motor-generator to converge torque transferred from the second motor-generator to the output shaft, to torque of the output shaft; moving the sleeve to release the second input shaft and maintain only the output shaft and the driven gear; and increasing torque of an engine and decreasing the torque of the second motor-generator to converge torque transferred from the engine to the output shaft, to the torque of the output shaft.