MAP-BASED VEHICLE RIDE HEIGHT CONTROL

摘要

A ride height adjustment of a vehicle traveling along a roadway is controlled by a controller which uses data about overpass clearances and the height of the highest point on the vehicle to lower vehicle height when the height can be lowered sufficiently to avoid collision with an overpass.

主权项

1. A vehicle comprising:
a chassis frame; road wheels on which the vehicle travels along an underlying roadway surface; suspensions which suspend the road wheels from the chassis frame; a ride height adjustment system for setting vertical distance from the chassis frame to an underlying roadway surface to a setting within a range of settings extending from a minimum limit to a maximum limit; a controller for operating the ride height adjustment system to a setting within the range; and a processor which evaluates: 1) data representing a setting to which the ride height adjustment system was set while the vehicle was stationary, 2) data representing vertical distance from the highest point anywhere on the vehicle to an underlying roadway surface for the setting to which the ride height adjustment system was set, and 3) data in a database representing vertical clearance of features and structures overlying an underlying roadway surface at multiple geographic locations along a travel route, to identify any feature or structure along the travel route whose vertical clearance to an underlying roadway surface is insufficient to assure passage of the vehicle underneath the feature or structure without collision of the vehicle with the feature or structure but which would enable sufficient clearance to be obtained if the ride height adjustment system were reset to a setting closer to the minimum limit of the range.