Adaptive vehicle control system

1. A system comprising:

one or more processors configured to determine an operating parameter of a vehicle system and a permissible region for automated control of the vehicle system or manual control of the vehicle system based on the operating parameter, the operating parameter is one or more of a route grade, a cant of a route, a throttle change of the vehicle system, or an availability of independent distributed power in the vehicle system;

the one or more processors configured to determine an expected plan for automated control of the vehicle system to travel at an upper speed limit of a route and to determine a consumption plan for automated control of the vehicle system to cause the vehicle system to consume less fuel than the expected plan;

the one or more processors are configured to identify a speed difference between traveling according to the expected plan and traveling according to the consumption plan; and

the one or more processors also are configured to control transition of the vehicle system between manual control and automated control based on the speed difference and the operating parameter.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine one or more automatic-permissible regions for automatic control of the vehicle system by determining one or more locations where changes in a throttle setting of the vehicle system are smaller than one or more other locations.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the operating parameter includes the cant of the route.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine one or more automatic-permissible regions for automatic control of the vehicle system based on a trend in one or more of operational settings of the vehicle system, operator alertness, weather conditions, or terrain of the route.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine a threshold of one or more parameters of the route, the operational parameter of the vehicle system, or trip parameters of the expected plan or the consumption plan; and

wherein the one or more processors are configured to prohibit switching operation between manual control of the vehicle system and automatic control of the vehicle system responsive to the threshold of the one or more parameters of the route, the operational parameter of the vehicle system, or the trip parameters of the expected plan or the consumption plan being exceeded by the route, the vehicle system, the expected plan, or the consumption plan.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine a threshold of one or more parameters of the route, the operational parameter of the vehicle system, or trip parameters of the expected plan or the consumption plan; and

wherein the one or more processors are configured to switch operation between automatic control of the vehicle system and manual control of the vehicle system responsive to the threshold of the one or more parameters of the route, the operational parameter of the vehicle system, or the trip parameters of the expected plan or the consumption plan being exceeded by the route, the vehicle system, the expected plan, or the consumption plan.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine one or more automatic-permissible regions for automatic control of the vehicle system based on an alertness of the operator of the vehicle system.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine one or more automatic-permissible regions for automatic control of the vehicle system by determining one or more terrain characteristics of the route at one or more different locations, different times, or different distances along the route, and identifying one or more locations where changes in the one or more terrain characteristics of the route traveled by the vehicle system are reduced relative to one or more other locations.

9. A method comprising:

determining an operating parameter of a vehicle system, the operating parameter including one or more of a route grade, a cant of a route, a throttle change of the vehicle system, or an availability of independent distributed power in the vehicle system;

identifying one or more permissible regions for either automatic control or manual control of the vehicle system based on the operating parameter;

determining an expected plan for manual control of the vehicle system to travel at an upper speed limit of the route;

determining a consumption plan for automatic control of the vehicle system to cause the vehicle system to consume less fuel than the expected plan;

identifying a speed difference between traveling according to the expected plan and traveling according to the consumption plan;

and

switching control of a vehicle system between automatic control and manual control based on the speed difference and the operating parameter that are determined.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the speed difference is identified by also identifying one or more locations where changes in a throttle setting of the vehicle system are smaller than one or more other locations while operating the vehicle system according to the consumption plan or the expected plan.

11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

monitoring an alertness of an operator of the vehicle system using one or more processors, wherein control of the vehicle system is switched between automatic control and manual control based on the alertness of the operator that is monitored.

12. A vehicle control system comprising:

one or more processors configured to determine an operating parameter of a vehicle system, the one or more processors configured to identify one or more permissible regions for either automatic control or manual control of the vehicle system based on the operating parameter, the one or more processors configured to automatically switch control of the vehicle system between automatic control and manual control based on the operating parameter, wherein the operating parameter is one or more of a route grade, a cant of a route, a throttle change of the vehicle system, or an availability of independent distributed power in the vehicle system,

wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine an expected plan for manual control of the vehicle system to travel at an upper speed limit of the route, the one or more processors also configured to determine a consumption plan for automatic control of the vehicle system to cause the vehicle system to consume less fuel than the expected plan,

wherein the one or more processors are configured to identify a speed difference between traveling according to the expected plan and traveling according to the consumption plan, the one or more processors configured to switch between automatic control and manual control of the vehicle system based on the speed difference.

13. The vehicle control system of claim 12 , wherein the one or more processors also are configured to switch control of the vehicle system between automatic control and manual control based on a parameter of a route.

14. The vehicle control system of claim 12 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to switch between automatic control and manual control of the vehicle system based on a comparison of the expected plan and the consumption plan.

15. The vehicle control system of claim 12 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to identify a fuel consumption difference between traveling according to the expected plan and traveling according to the consumption plan, the one or more processors configured to switch between automatic control and manual control of the vehicle system based on the fuel consumption difference.

16. The vehicle control system of claim 12 , wherein the vehicle system is one or more automobiles.

17. The vehicle control system of claim 12 , wherein the vehicle system is one or more rail vehicles.