Kawasaki Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Kawasaki Motors, Ltd.

Hiroshi Ishii

Daisuke Saeki

Tomo Yamamoto

Kazuya Nagasaka

Takeshi Nakajima

Taro Iwamoto

Taichi Inaba

Kazuhiro Ichikawa

Masanori Kinuhata

Masayuki Enomoto

Daisuke Kawai

Atsushi Sano

Kohei Akita

Masato Kogirima

Hisanosuke Kawada

Takenori Terada

Seiichi Sonoda

Akira Yoshida

Manabu Morikawa

Hidenori Arisawa

Ichiro Tanaka

Shinji Ikeda

Masashi Ono

Takashi Uchida

Toshiyuki Kimura

Kotaro Hanabusa

Faro Iwamoto

Taku Nagata

Teruaki Mizukawa

Yamamoto Tomo

A utility vehicle includes: a travel structure including a front wheel, a rear wheel, a steering structure mounted to the front wheel, and a drive source that drives the front wheel and/or the rear wheel; circuitry that controls the travel structure to effect autonomous travel without manned operation in a given travel area; and a vehicle location detector that detects a location of the utility vehicle. During the autonomous travel, the circuitry determines, based on road condition data where the travel area is divided into regions with different predetermined road condition levels, to which of the road condition levels a road condition of a region ahead of the location of the utility vehicle in a travel direction belongs, and the circuitry controls the travel structure such that a given travel parameter is within a corresponding one of permissible ranges predetermined respectively in association with the road condition levels.

Utility vehicle controllable within permissible range based on determined road condition level

A utility vehicle includes: a travel structure including a front wheel, a rear wheel, a steering structure mounted to the front wheel, and a drive source that drives the front wheel and/or the rear wheel; at least one operator used to operate the travel structure; circuitry that controls the travel structure; and a mode switcher that switches the utility vehicle between a manned operation mode in which the utility vehicle travels in response to operations on the operator and an autonomous travel mode in which the circuitry allows the utility vehicle to autonomously travel on a given travel route without any operations on the operator.

Autonomous and manual mode swtiching for utility vehicle

A leaning vehicle includes a vehicle body, a left front wheel, a right front wheel, a steering rod, suspension, a first steering part, second steering part, a pantograph mechanism. The first steering part is disposed a vehicle body side respect to the suspension and transmits rotational a steering force by a driver. The second steering part is disposed the front wheel side respect to the suspension and transmits the rotational steering force to the steering rod. The pantograph mechanism is disposed separately from the suspension, transmits the rotational steering force from the first steering part to the second steering part, and maintains state of transmission of the rotational steering force by deforming in accordance with changes in relative positions of the first steering part and the second steering part.

Vehicle

A utility vehicle includes: a travel structure including a front wheel, a rear wheel, a steering structure mounted to the front wheel, and a drive source that drives the front wheel and/or the rear wheel; circuitry that controls the travel structure to effect autonomous travel without manned operation in a given travel area; a route setter that sets a travel route for the autonomous travel; a vehicle location detector that detects a location of the utility vehicle; and a target detector that detects a monitoring target in the travel area. In case that the monitoring target is detected at a location during the autonomous travel, the circuitry stores the location of the monitoring target as history information. The route setter sets a reference point at the location where the monitoring target was detected and sets the travel route based on the reference point.

Utility vehicle

A leaning vehicle includes a vehicle body, a left front wheel, a right front wheel, a lean mechanism, a lean brake mechanism, a steering handle, a left grip, a throttle grip, a lean brake manipulator. The lean mechanism causes the left front wheel and the right front wheel to lean about a front-rear direction as a rotation center when the vehicle body leans about the front-rear direction as a rotation center. The lean brake mechanism brakes the leaning operation by the lean mechanism while the leaning vehicle is traveling. The lean brake manipulator is positioned at a first side in the vehicle width direction, changes a position integrally with the left grip, and for performing an operation of actuating the lean brake mechanism to brake.

Leaning-type vehicle

A leaning vehicle includes a vehicle body, a plurality of wheels, a lean mechanism, and a lean stopper mechanism. The wheels include a left front wheel and a right front wheel. The lean mechanism causes the left front wheel and the right front wheel to lean about a front-rear direction as a rotation center when the vehicle body leans about the front-rear direction as a rotation center. The lean stopper mechanism prevents a lean angle from exceeding a limit angle. in a plan view, an area bounded by lines connecting contact positions of ground and tires of the plurality of wheels is referred to as a grounding surface inner area, and a gravity center is positioned in the grounding surface inner area in a state where the lean angle reaches the limit angle.

A leaning vehicle includes a vehicle body, a left wheel, a right wheel, left and right bearings, left and right axle, left arm, right arm, and lean mechanism. The left arm supports the left wheel from inside in a vehicle width direction. The right arm supports the right wheel from inside in the vehicle width direction. The lean mechanism causes the left wheel and the right wheel to lean about a front-rear direction as a rotation center when the vehicle body leans about the front-rear direction as a rotation center. The single bearing is inserted into a hub hole of the left wheel. The single bearing is inserted into a hub hole of the right wheel.

A leaning vehicle includes a vehicle body, a left front wheel, a right front wheel, a lean mechanism, and a lean brake mechanism. The lean mechanism causes the left front wheel and the right front wheel to lean about a front-rear direction as a rotation center when the vehicle body leans about the front-rear direction as a rotation center. The lean brake mechanism brakes a leaning operation of the lean mechanism. The lean brake mechanism includes a brake caliper and a brake disc. The brake caliper is attached to the lean mechanism and has a brake pad. The brake disc is attached to the lower arm of the upper arm and the lower arm that is farther from the brake pad in the front view, has a contact portion that generates braking force by being pressed by the brake pad.

Leaning vehicle

A leaning vehicle includes a vehicle body, a left front wheel, a right front wheel, a lean mechanism, and a lean brake mechanism. The lean mechanism causes the left front wheel and the right front wheel to lean about a front-rear direction as a rotation center when the vehicle body leans about the front-rear direction as a rotation center. The lean brake mechanism brakes a leaning operation of the lean mechanism. The lean brake mechanism includes a brake disc and brake pads. The brake disc is attached to an upper arm or a lower arm. The brake pads, which are attached such that their position relative to the brake disc changes in the leaning operation, produce a frictional force against the brake disc in the leaning operation.

A saddle-riding type vehicle includes a driver's seat on which an occupant taking a driving posture sits, a fuel tank disposed in front of the driver's seat and extending in a front-rear direction and a canister formed into a long-length shape that defines a longitudinal direction of the canister, fuel vapors generated in the fuel tank being brought into the canister and adsorbed and held by an adsorbent provided in the canister. The canister is disposed under the fuel tank with the longitudinal direction aligned with the front-rear direction and is entirely covered by the fuel tank in vehicle side view.

Saddle-riding type vehicle

A leaning vehicle includes a base member, an upper arm, a lower arm, a first support member, a second support member, a first wheel, a second wheel, and a steering operation member. The upper arm, the lower arm, the first support member, the second support member constitute a parallel link mechanism. The first wheel is movable integrally with the first support member in a turning direction of the base member. The second wheel is movable integrally with the second support member in the turning direction of the base member. According to turning of the base member by operating the steering operation member, all of the upper arm, the lower arm, the first support member, the second support member, the first wheel, and the second wheel turn around a turning center of the base member.

Leaning vehicle and vehicle leaning unit

A straddle-type vehicle includes a driver seat on which a driver rides, a cylinder head of an engine arranged in a region in front of and below the driver seat, an exhaust pipe that is connected to an exhaust port formed on a front surface of the cylinder head and exhausts exhaust of the engine, and a control unit that is arranged in an engine front space formed in front of the cylinder head, above the exhaust pipe, and below an upper end surface of the engine and controls the straddle-type vehicle.

Straddle-type vehicle

A traveling vehicle includes a vehicle body, a left swing part, a right swing part, a holding body, and a suspension device. The left swing part rotatably supports a left front wheel. The right swing part rotatably supports a right front wheel. The left swing part and the right swing part are supported on the vehicle body. The holding body for supporting the suspension device is formed in a U-shape so as to sandwich the suspension device in a front-back direction. A support shaft provided in the suspension device is supported on the holding body on both sides in the front-back direction. The suspension device is rotatable about the support shaft. The suspension device is arranged at a position higher than the left swing part and the right swing part, and extends and contracts in conjunction with swings of the left swing part and the right swing part.

Traveling vehicle

A traveling vehicle includes a vehicle body, a left swing part, a right swing part, and an interlocking link mechanism. The left swing part and the right swing part are supported on the vehicle body so as to be swingable in the up-down direction, respectively. A left support part supporting a left front wheel is provided on a front part of the left swing part so as to be rotatable about a left steering shaft. A right support part supporting a right front wheel is provided at a front part of the right swing part so as to be rotatable about a right steering shaft. The interlocking link mechanism rotates one of the left support part and the right support part in conjunction with the other. The interlocking link mechanism is provided between the left support part and the right support part.

A straddle vehicle of the present invention includes: a vehicle body frame member; a rotatably supporting member supporting a front wheel; a support arm supporting the rotatably supporting member, the support arm extending rearward from the rotatably supporting member; a pair of upper and lower link members pivotally connected to the support arm at two locations on a rear portion of the support arm at least on one side of the vehicle body in a vehicle width direction, the two locations being spaced in the upward-downward direction, the pair of upper and lower link members extending rearward from the support arm, each of the link members having a rear portion pivotally connected to the vehicle body frame member; a handle; and a handle supporting member removably coupled to the vehicle body frame member and supporting the handle.

Growing community of inventors

Kobe, Japan

Hiroshi Ishii