VEHICLE SHIFTER RESPONSIVE TO SHIFTING BEHAVIORS

摘要

A shifter system for shifting a transmission on a vehicle includes a shifter (150, Fig.28) having a manually-operated shift lever (152, 207) movable between various gear positions, an electrical sensing device (160, 206) on the shifter for sensing positions of the shift lever, and a controller (208) connected to the sensing device and constructed to control shifting of a transmission based on signals from the sensing device indicative of the position of the shift lever. The controller and the sensing device as a system are capable of determining velocity or acceleration of movement of the shift lever and the controller is programmed to change control of the shifting of the transmission in accordance therewith. The sensing device can be any one of a variety of different sensors, such as a continuous output potentiometer, a discrete output potentiometer, a series of switches, a membrane potentiometer, a deformable variable-resistance potentiometer, optical or mechanical readers, and the like.