INTEGRATED VEHICLE BRAKING SYSTEM

1 . A vehicle comprising:

a first wheel;

a second wheel;

a braking system configured to apply braking force to the first wheel and the second wheel;

an active suspension system operatively coupled to the first wheel and the second wheel, wherein the active suspension system is configured to apply active forces to the first wheel and the second wheel in at least one mode of operation to adjust a normal component of a first wheel contact force between the first wheel and a road surface and to adjust a normal component of a second wheel contact force between the second wheel and the road surface; and

at least one processor configured to control the braking system and the active suspension system, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:

determine a location of the vehicle,

obtain reference road information corresponding to the location of the vehicle, and

control the braking system and the active suspension system based at least partially on the obtained reference road information.

2 . The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the first wheel is a front wheel of the vehicle, the second wheel is a rear wheel of the vehicle, and the first wheel and second wheel are positioned at opposite corners of the vehicle.

3 . The vehicle of claim 2 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to control the active suspension system to increase the normal component of the first wheel and the normal component of the second wheel based on the obtained reference road information.

4 . The vehicle of claim 3 , wherein the obtained reference road information includes a road disturbance.

5 . The vehicle of claim 4 , wherein the road disturbance is a change in friction of the road surface relative to a nominal road friction.

6 . The vehicle of claim 3 , wherein the obtained reference road information includes a turn.

7 . The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the first wheel is a first front wheel of the vehicle, the second wheel is a second front wheel of the vehicle, and the at least one processor is configured to control the active suspension system to adjust a pitch of the vehicle.

8 . The vehicle of claim 7 , wherein the obtained reference road information includes a road disturbance, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to control the active suspension system to temporarily increase the normal component of the first wheel contact force and the normal component of the second wheel contact force based on the road disturbance.

9 . The vehicle of claim 7 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine a braking event is in progress, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine a pitch frequency of the vehicle based on the braking event, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to control the active suspension system to adjust the pitch of the vehicle based on the determined pitch frequency.

10 . The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the first wheel is a first side wheel of the vehicle, the second wheel is a second side wheel of the vehicle positioned on a same side of the vehicle, and the at least one processor is configured to control the active suspension system to adjust a roll of the vehicle.

11 . The vehicle of claim 10 , wherein the obtained reference road information includes a road disturbance, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to control the active suspension system to temporarily increase the normal component of the first wheel contact force and the normal component of the second wheel contact force based on the road disturbance.

12 . The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to:

determine a braking event is in progress;

determine an expected response of the vehicle during the braking event; and

control the braking system and the active suspension system based on the expected response.

13 . The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the obtained reference road information includes a road disturbance having a disturbance size, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine whether the disturbance size exceeds an activation threshold, wherein the at least one processor is configured to disable the active suspension system if the disturbance size does not exceed the activation threshold for a duration of a braking event.

14 . The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the obtained reference road information is stored in memory onboard the vehicle.

15 . The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the obtained reference road information is received from a second vehicle located ahead of the vehicle.

16 . A method of controlling a vehicle including a braking system and an active suspension system, wherein the active suspension system is operatively coupled to a first wheel and a second wheel, the method comprising:

determining a location of the vehicle;

obtaining reference road information corresponding to the location of the vehicle; and

controlling the braking system and the active suspension system based at least partially on the obtained reference road information, wherein controlling the active suspension system includes applying active forces to the first wheel and the second wheel to adjust a normal component of a first wheel contact force between the first wheel and a road surface and to adjust a normal component of a second wheel contact force between the second wheel and the road surface.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the first wheel is a front wheel of the vehicle, the second wheel is a rear wheel of the vehicle, and the first wheel and second wheel are positioned at opposite corners of the vehicle.

18 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising controlling the active suspension system to increase the normal component of the first wheel and the normal component of the second wheel based on the obtained reference road information.

19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the obtained reference road information includes a road disturbance.

20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the road disturbance is a change in friction of the road surface relative to a nominal road friction.

21 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the obtained reference road information includes a turn.

22 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the first wheel is a first front wheel of the vehicle, the second wheel is a second front wheel of the vehicle, wherein the obtained reference road information includes a road disturbance, and wherein the method further comprises controlling the active suspension system to adjust a pitch of the vehicle based on the road disturbance.

23 . The method of claim 22 , further comprising:

determining a braking event is in progress;

determining a pitch frequency of the vehicle based on the braking event; and

controlling the active suspension system to adjust the pitch of the vehicle based on the determined pitch frequency.

24 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the first wheel is a first side wheel of the vehicle, the second wheel is a second side wheel of the vehicle positioned on a same side of the vehicle, wherein the obtained reference road information includes a road disturbance, and wherein the method further comprises controlling the active suspension system to adjust a roll of the vehicle based on the road disturbance.

25 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

determining a braking event is in progress;

determining an expected response of the vehicle during the braking event; and

controlling the braking system and the active suspension system based on the expected response.

26 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the obtained reference road information includes a road disturbance having a disturbance size, wherein the method further comprises determining whether the disturbance size exceeds an activation threshold and disabling the active suspension system if the disturbance size does not exceed the activation threshold for a duration of a braking event.

27 . The method of claim 16 , wherein obtaining the reference road information includes receiving the reference road information from a second vehicle located ahead of the vehicle.

28 - 69 . (canceled)