Predictive heavy-duty vehicle motion management based on environment sensing
A control unit for controlling a heavy-duty vehicle, the control unit being arranged to receive ambient environment data from one or more environment sensors on the heavy-duty vehicle, and to predict an impact of the ambient environment on the motion of the heavy-duty vehicle, wherein the control unit is arranged to coordinate control of one or more motion support devices, MSDs, on the heavy-duty vehicle to compensate for the predicted impact of the ambient environment on the motion of the heavy-duty vehicle.
1 . A electronic control unit for controlling a heavy-duty vehicle,
the electronic control unit being configured to receive ambient environment data from one or more environment sensors on the heavy-duty vehicle, and configured to predict an impact of the ambient environment on the motion of the heavy-duty vehicle,
wherein the electronic control unit is configured to coordinate control of one or more motion support devices, MSDs, on the heavy-duty vehicle to compensate for the predicted impact of the ambient environment on the motion of the heavy-duty vehicle,
where the electronic control unit is configured to predict one or more wheel tracks of the heavy-duty vehicle, and
wherein the ambient environment data comprises a road surface condition along the one or more predicted wheel tracks of the heavy-duty vehicle, wherein the predicted impact of the ambient environment on the motion of the heavy-duty vehicle comprises a predicted change in rolling resistance for one or more wheels on the heavy-duty vehicle.
2 . The electronic control unit according to claim 1 , wherein the ambient environment data comprises wind speed and or wind direction data, wherein the predicted impact of the ambient environment on the motion of the heavy-duty vehicle comprises a predicted change in wind force on the heavy-duty vehicle.
3 . The electronic control unit according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more environment sensors comprises a forward looking camera, lidar or radar sensor.
4 . The electronic control unit according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more environment sensors comprises one or more anemometers and/or one or more rain gauges.
5 . The electronic control unit according to claim 1 , wherein the predicted impact of the ambient environment on the motion of the heavy-duty vehicle is at least in part determined based on a model of a tire mounted onto a wheel on the heavy-duty vehicle.
6 . The electronic control unit according to claim 1 , arranged to control the one or more MSDs on the heavy-duty vehicle to generate a longitudinal and/or lateral wheel force to compensate for the predicted impact of the ambient environment on the motion of the heavy-duty vehicle.
7 . The electronic control unit according to claim 6 , arranged to account for lateral and/or longitudinal relaxation length of one or more tires of the heavy-duty vehicle, when controlling said one or more MSDs, by increasing tires slip ahead of the predicted impact.
8 . The electronic control unit according to claim 1 , arranged to control the one or more MSDs on the heavy-duty vehicle to generate a steering angle to compensate for the predicted impact of the ambient environment on the motion of the heavy-duty vehicle.
9 . The electronic control unit according to claim 8 , arranged to account for lateral relaxation length of a tire on the heavy-duty vehicle by generating a compensating steering angle ahead of the predicted impact.
10 . The electronic control unit according to claim 6 , arranged to account for one or more predetermined dynamic properties of an MSD by changing the set-point of said MSD ahead of the predicted impact.
11 . The electronic control unit according to claim 1 , arranged to receive weather data from a remote server.
12 . The electronic control unit according to claim 1 , arranged to classify a section of road surface ahead of the vehicle in dependence of road type, where each road type is associated with an expected rolling resistance.
13 . The electronic control unit according to claim 1 wherein the ambient environment data comprises data from one or more smart tire sensors, wherein the electronic control unit is arranged to determine a road surface condition based on the data from the one or more smart tire sensors, and to use the data for controlling one or more MSDs arranged rearward from the wheel comprising the smart tire sensors.
14 . The electronic control unit according to claim 1 , arranged to classify a section of road surface ahead of the vehicle in dependence of data gather during a previous drive on the road section.
15 . A vehicle comprising an electronic control unit according to claim 1 .
16 . A computer implemented method performed in an electronic control unit for controlling a heavy-duty vehicle, the method comprising:
predicting one or more wheel tracks of the heavy-duty vehicle,
receiving ambient environment data from one or more environment sensors on the heavy-duty vehicle,
wherein the ambient environment data comprises a road surface condition along the one or more predicted wheel tracks of the heavy-duty vehicle,
predicting an impact of the ambient environment on the motion of the heavy-duty vehicle, where the predicted impact of the ambient environment on the motion of the heavy-duty vehicle comprises a predicted change in rolling resistance for one or more wheels on the heavy-duty vehicle, and
coordinating control of one or more motion support devices, MSDs, on the heavy-duty vehicle to compensate for the predicted impact of the ambient environment on the motion of the heavy-duty vehicle.
17 . A non-transitory computer readable medium storing program code for performing the steps of claim 16 when said program code is run on a computer or on an electronic control unit.