A method of selecting a launch speed gear ratio in an automatic transmission 22 having a plurality of selectable speed ratios. The method comprises providing a vehicle with slope and/or obstacle sensing devices, such as cameras 13, (15, fig 2) or RADAR or LIDAR. The sensing devices 13, (15) look in a direction of intended travel and have output signals, e.g. images, which are processed by a controller 24 so as to determine a gradient of a slope (12) and/or recognition an obstacle such as kerbs or rocks etc. Having recognized the gradient and/or obstacle, the controller 24 uses shift maps to pre-select an appropriate launch gear ratio so that upon starting from rest the vehicle is adapted to the terrain. If an up-slope or a down-slope exceeds a threshold gradient or an obstacle exceeds a threshold height the pre-selected launch gear ratio is lower than normal. Reference is also made to a launch control system and to a vehicle having a launch control system.
Multi-speed automatic vehicle transmission
2015-12-30
Patent
Electronic Resource
English
A five-speed starting clutch automatic transmission vehicle
Automotive engineering | 2003
|A Five-Speed Starting Clutch Automatic Transmission Vehicle
SAE Technical Papers | 2003
|6 speed automatic transmission applied to FF vehicle
British Library Conference Proceedings | 2005
|