Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.

Geoffrey D Gaither

Joshua D Payne

Mohammad Effendi Dufford

Systems and methods are provided for obtaining vehicle operating conditions at or near a section of roadway in order to determine whether existing/current roadway infrastructure at or near that section of roadway is causing a loss in operating efficiency. Vehicle operating conditions may be communicated by vehicles to roadside units via a vehicle-to-infrastructure communications system. Upon a determination that the existing/current roadway infrastructure is causing the loss in operating efficiency, one or more recommendations for improvements to the existing/current roadway infrastructure may be suggested to a municipality controlling the section of roadway. Estimates regarding the effectiveness of the improvements as well as actual measurements regarding implemented improvements may be determined in order to justify proceeding with implementing the improvements and/or generate additional improvement recommendations.

Systems and methods for infrastructure improvements

Systems and methods are provided for presenting personalized information to one or more vehicle occupants as a vehicle approaches and/or passes a road sign. Characteristics of a vehicle, e.g., operating conditions, characteristics of the one or more vehicle occupants, e.g., age, demographic, driving record, purchase history, etc. and/or road conditions, e.g., weather-related road conditions, current traffic conditions, etc., may be obtained. Information relevant to the one or more vehicle occupants based on one or more of these characteristics/conditions may presented to the one or more vehicle occupants. In scenarios where the presentation of personalized information is unwanted/unwarranted, more generalized information and/or safety warnings or recommendations can be presented.

Systems and methods for dynamic road sign personalization

A method/system for optimizing vehicle operations for a predicted route and/or a route set. The method/system may record location data and time data for a route. Two or more routes can be linked to form a route set by analyzing the location data and time data of the routes using a linking threshold. The linking threshold may be based on a relationship between locations and/or times of different routes. The vehicle may predict that a particular route segment or route will likely be driven. An operation of a unit or a device of the vehicle over the predicted route and/or route set may be adjusted based on information stored regarding the predicted route and/or route set in order to enhance the energy efficiency of the vehicle. The links may be categorized as having different types in order to apply a different control strategy to different types of links.

System and method for improving energy efficiency of a vehicle based on determined relationships between a plurality of routes

Systems and methods for adaptively adjusting settings of a vehicle during a known route are described. A method may include storing a driving route, parsing the driving route into a plurality of segments based on at least one of a turn detection, an intersection detection, a change in road conditions, a change in speed of the vehicle, or a predetermined distance traveled. The method may also include assigning to each segment a unique identification code, storing a plurality of values correlating to settings, the settings having values determined during a segment of the driving route, and associating each of the plurality of values to the unique identification code of the segment in which the setting was determined. The method may also include automatically changing each of the plurality of values at the beginning of each segment in which the value was altered.

System and method for providing adaptive vehicle settings based on a known route

A method/system is provided for improving reverse hill climb performance of a hybrid vehicle. An electronic control unit (ECU) determines whether pre-charging is needed based on vehicle state and environmental conditions. This determination can be based on a grade value of a hill upon which the vehicle is positioned, a state of charge (SOC) of the battery, and/or the expected distance that the vehicle will travel uphill. The ECU sets a charging rate and a target charge value based on the foregoing data. The battery may be charged to have an SOC that exceeds an actual needed target charge value by a hysteresis margin. A message may be displayed requesting the driver to wait until pre-charging is complete. The engine charges the battery at the charging rate until the SOC reaches the target charge value. The driver is prompted that he or she can start reverse driving.

Growing community of inventors

Nagoya, Japan

Geoffrey D Gaither