Vehicular travel control device

Abstract

In a vehicular control device, it is necessary to measure or calculate six physical quantities-forward-reverse speed, left-right speed, vertical speed, pitch angle, roll angle, and angle of sideslip-representing vehicular movement and to control the braking force of each wheel and/or the damping coefficient of each suspension shock absorber in order to further shorten braking distance particularly at the time of braking and to prevent spin at that time. In this case, it is necessary to furnish sensors to measure speed and angle directly. In the present invention, four radar sensors are used in order to directly measure the forward-reverse speed and the left-right speed. Also, the vertical speed, the pitch angle, the roll angle, and the angle of sideslip are indirectly measured from the output of the radar sensors. By using three or four radar sensors, six physical quantities—the forward speed, the left-right direction speed, the vertical speed, the angle of sideslip, the pitch angle, and the roll angle—can be measured. Also, by using two radar sensors, three physical quantities—the forward speed, the left-right speed, and the angle of sideslip—can be measured.