Autonomous dock

• Main Authors: Snow, Kevin, Steeby, Jon A, Tsourapas, Vasilios, Verma, Rajeev, Boillat, Matthew T, Dodd, Conor H, Cox, Nathan H, Sirur, Sujay, Mahulkar, Vishal V
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 25.05.2021
• Subjects: CONJOINT CONTROL OF VEHICLE SUB-UNITS OF DIFFERENT TYPE ORDIFFERENT FUNCTION; CONTROL SYSTEMS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR HYBRID VEHICLES; CONTROLLING; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICS; REGULATING; ROAD VEHICLE DRIVE CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR PURPOSES NOT RELATED TOTHE CONTROL OF A PARTICULAR SUB-UNIT; SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES; TRANSPORTING; VEHICLE CONNECTIONS; VEHICLES IN GENERAL; VEHICLES, VEHICLE FITTINGS, OR VEHICLE PARTS, NOT OTHERWISEPROVIDED FOR

An autonomous dock system for a vehicle, comprises a control system with instructions comprising steps for receiving a request to implement an autonomous dock routine. A vehicle speed and clutch position are calculated. A clutch position controller is commanded to maintain the calculated clutch position. An actual torque amount is iteratively detected as transferred across the clutch. A vehicle speed-control mechanism is commanded to maintain the calculated vehicle speed, and the actual vehicle speed is iteratively detected. When comparing the commanded vehicle speed to the detected actual vehicle speed indicates that the detected actual vehicle speed is below a speed threshold, and when the actual torque amount transferred across the clutch exceeds a torque threshold, the control system commands an increase in vehicle speed.