Route-based propulsion mode control for multimodal vehicles

摘要

A method and system of operating a multimodal vehicle includes determining a vehicle route between a starting point and an ending point, establishing one or more waypoints along the determined vehicle route based on one or more factors such as topography or road classification, and changing the propulsion mode of the vehicle at each of the established waypoints. This can be used, for example, to help optimize the use of different propulsion modes such as gasoline and battery power to thereby increase energy utilization efficiency.

主权项

1. A method of operating a multimodal vehicle as it travels along a route, comprising the steps of:
(a) determining at a remote facility using external data a vehicle route between a starting point and an ending point, wherein the external data is interpreted by a computer and used by that computer to create the vehicle route in the form of data capable of being wirelessly transmitted to the vehicle; (b) establishing at the remote facility one or more waypoints along the determined vehicle route based on the external data and embedding the waypoints as part of the vehicle route using the computer; (c) including along with the determined vehicle route an instruction executable by a processor on the vehicle to change a propulsion mode of the vehicle at each of the one or more waypoints; and (d) wirelessly sending the determined vehicle route and the instruction from the remote facility to the vehicle.