SE1650340A1

SE1650340A1 - Method and control unit for improving road holding

Info

Publication number: SE1650340A1
Application number: SE1650340A
Authority: SE
Inventors: Sappei Stefan; Nensén Max
Original assignee: Scania Cv Ab
Priority date: 2016-03-14
Filing date: 2016-03-14
Publication date: 2017-09-15
Also published as: DE102017001656A1; SE540644C2

Abstract

Methods (400,500) and control units (310, 340), for improving road holding of a subsequently driving second vehicle (102). The method (400) comprises: detecting (401) a traction control engagement of the first vehicle (101); and transmitting (402) a wireless signal, comprising information concerning the detected (401) traction control engagement, to be received by the second vehicle (102).(Publ. Fig. 3B)

Description

METHOD AND CONTROL UNIT FOR IMPROVING ROAD HOLDING TECHNICAL FIELD This document discloses a control unit and a method. More particularly, a method and acontrol unit is provided in a first vehicle, for improving road holding of a subsequently drivingsecond vehicle.

BACKGROUND Slippery road conditions due to ice, snow, mud, leaves, etc., |imits the road availability ofroad bound vehicles, perhaps in particular when driving in uphill.

Such road bound vehicle may be e.g. a truck, a bus, a car, a motorcycle etc.

Fortunately, systems have been developed for improving road availability of vehicles suchas e.g. Electronic Stability Control (ESC), also referred to as Electronic Stability Program(ESP) or Dynamic Stability Control (DSC); a Traction Control System (TCS), in German alsoknown as Antriebsschlupfregelung (ASR), etc.

However, when a traction control engagement is detected in a vehicle driving uphill, it istypically a bit too late to perform a countermeasure such as increasing wheel pressure of thevehicle by lifting a trailing axle of the vehicle. lt would thus be desired to be able to detectslippery road conditions on the road ahead, before the vehicle arrives at the slippery road segment. lf another vehicle is driving closely behind the vehicle having detected the traction controlengagement, as may be the case e.g. for vehicles driving in a platoon, i.e. a coordinatedgroup of vehicles, spinning tires of the ahead vehicle in combination with sudden slipperyroad conditions may lead to an accident, in worst case a serial collision.

Document WO2014148991 illustrates a method for detecting when wheels of a first vehiclein a platoon are spinning. This information is sent to another second vehicle, behind the first vehicle, so that a skid protection system in the second vehicle could be activated.

However, nothing is said about how other vehicles of the platoon may be protected, how acollision may be avoided and/ or how vehicle traction may be assured by further measures.

Document US20060293841 presents a method wherein a leading vehicle in a vehicle pla- toon is estimating the road conditions via e.g. on-board cameras and by friction measure-ments on the tires which may be made by identifying wheel spin. When the friction betweenthe tires and the road is lower than a threshold value, a traction control is activated in thefirst vehicle. The leader vehicle may then transmit the information concerning road friction tothe other vehicles of the platoon, which thereby are prepared for activating countermeasuresfor avoiding wheel spin.

Both these documents describe methods for detecting spinning wheels of the first vehicle inthe platoon, or by estimating the friction between tires of the first vehicle and the road, notfor detecting a situation when the traction control of the first vehicle is actually activated.

The document US20050283289 concerns a method wherein it is detected when friction be-tween tires of a vehicle and road is insufficient, e.g. by traction control. ln case the tractionis insufficient, the steering angle may be oscillated. The vehicle concerns only the situation in one vehicle. lt appears that further development is required for improving traffic safety due to slipperyroad conditions, in particular when driving in a platoon formation of coordinated vehicles.

SUMMARY lt is therefore an object of this invention to solve at least some of the above problems andimprove traffic safety.

According to a first aspect of the invention, this objective is achieved by a method in a firstvehicle for improving road holding of a subsequently driving second vehicle. The methodcomprises detecting a traction control engagement of the first vehicle. Further the methodalso comprises transmitting a wireless signal, comprising information concerning the de- tected traction control engagement, to be received by the second vehicle.

According to a second aspect of the invention, this objective is achieved by a control unit ina first vehicle, for improving road holding of a subsequently driving second vehicle. The con-trol unit is configured to detect a traction control engagement of the first vehicle. Further, thecontrol unit is configured to generate a command to transmit a wireless signal, via a trans-mitter, comprising information about the detected traction control engagement, to be re-ceived by the second vehicle.

According to a third aspect of the invention, this objective is achieved by a method in a sec-ond vehicle driving behind a first vehicle, for improving road holding of the second vehicle.

The method comprises receiving a wireless signal from the first vehicle comprising infor-mation concerning a traction control engagement of the first vehicle. Further the method alsocomprises activating a device for increasing wheel pressure of the second vehicle againstthe road.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, this objective is achieved by a control unit in asecond vehicle, driving behind a first vehicle, for improving road holding of the second vehi-cle. The control unit is configured to receive a wireless signal from the first vehicle comprisinginformation concerning a traction control engagement of the first vehicle. Further the controlunit is configured to activate a device for increasing wheel pressure of the second vehicleagainst the road Thanks to the described aspects, by detecting when traction control is engaged in a firstvehicle and providing this information over a wireless communication interface to a subse-quently driving vehicle, and/ or other vehicles in the vicinity of the first vehicle, e.g. vehiclesdriving in the same platoon.

By providing this information to the vehicles driving behind, these vehicles may start activat-ing countermeasures for avoiding loss of traction, such as e.g. increasing wheel pressure.Thereby, the driving ability and road holding of the vehicles are improved, as the tractioncapacity is increased. Further, accidents may be avoided by increasing an inter-vehiculardistance between vehicles, for providing additional reaction time to react on a situation oflost traction of the vehicle in front. Thereby traffic safety is enhanced.

Other advantages and additional novel features will become apparent from the subsequentdetailed description.

FIGURES Embodiments of the invention will now be described in further detail with reference to theaccompanying figures, in which: Figure 1 illustrates a side view of vehicles according to an embodiment; Figure 2A illustrates vehicles according to an embodiment, seen from above; Figure 2B illustrates a side view of vehicles according to an embodiment; Figure 2C illustrates a side view of vehicles according to an embodiment; Figure 3A illustrates a vehicle interior of a first vehicle according to an embodiment;Figure 3B illustrates a vehicle interior of a second vehicle according to an embodiment; Figure 4 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a method in a first vehicle;Figure 5 is an illustration depicting a system according to an embodiment;Figure 6 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a method in a second vehicle.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Embodiments of the invention described herein are defined as control units and methods,which may be put into practice in the embodiments described below. These embodimentsmay, however, be exemplified and realised in many different forms and are not to be limitedto the examples set forth herein; rather, these illustrative examples of embodiments are pro-vided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete.

Still other objects and features may become apparent from the following detailed description,considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. lt is to be understood, however,that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition ofthe limits of the herein disclosed embodiments, for which reference is to be made to theappended claims. Further, the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale and, unless oth-en/vise indicated, they are merely intended to conceptually illustrate the structures and pro-cedures described herein.

Figure 1 illustrates a scenario comprising a number of vehicles 101, 102, e.g. a first vehicle101 and a second vehicle 102 driving in a driving direction 105, with an inter-vehicular dis-tance t. The vehicles 101, 102, may be coordinated and organised in a platoon 110 drivingon a road 120.

Such platoon 110, or coordinated group of vehicles 101, 102 may be described as a chainof coordinated, inter-communicating vehicles 101, 102 travelling at given inter-vehicular dis-tances t and velocity.

The inter-vehicular distance t may be fixed or variable in different embodiments. Thus thedistance t may be e.g. some centimetres, some decimetres, some meters or some tenths ofmeters in different embodiments. Alternatively, each vehicle 101, 102 in the platoon 110 mayhave a different inter-vehicular distances t.

The vehicles 101, 102 may comprise e.g. a truck, a car, a multi-passenger vehicle such asa bus, a coach or any similar vehicle or other means of conveyance. The vehicles 101, 102in the platoon 110 may comprise vehicles of the same, or different types in different embod- iments.

The vehicles 101, 102 may be driver controlled or driverless autonomously controlled vehi-cles in different embodiments. However, for enhanced clarity, the vehicles 101, 102 are sub-sequently described as having a driver, at least in the leading vehicle 101.

The vehicles 101, 102 in the platoon 110 may be coordinated via a wireless signal. Suchwireless signal may comprise, or at least be inspired by wireless communication technologysuch as Wi-Fi, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), Blue-tooth (BT), Near Field Communication (NFC), Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID), opticalcommunication such as Infrared Data Association (lrDA) or infrared transmission to name but a few possible examples of wireless communications in some embodiments. ln some embodiments, the communication between vehicles 101, 102 in the platoon 110may be performed via vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, e.g. based on DedicatedShort-Range Communications (DSRC) devices. DSRC works in 5.9 GHz band with band-width of 75 MHz and approximate range of 1000 m in some embodiments.

The wireless communication may be made according to any IEEE standard for wireless ve-hicular communication like e.g. a special mode of operation of IEEE 802.11 for vehicularnetworks called Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments (WAVE). IEEE 802.11p is anextension to 802.11 Wireless LAN medium access layer (MAC) and physical layer (PHY)specification.

The communication may alternatively be made over a wireless interface comprising, or atleast being inspired by radio access technologies such as e.g. 3GPP LTE, LTE-Advanced,E-UTRAN, UMTS, GSM, GSM/ EDGE, WCDMA, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) net-works, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) networks, Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA)networks, Single-Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) networks, Worldwide lnteroperability for Micro-wave Access (WiMax), or Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), High Speed Packet Access(HSPA) Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA), Universal Terrestrial RadioAccess (UTRA), GSM EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN), 3GPP2 CDMA technologies,e.g., CDMA2000 1x RTT and High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), or similar, just to mention some few options, via a wireless communication network.

When a traction control engagement of the first vehicle 101 is detected, e.g. by a sensor inthe first vehicle 101, a wireless signal is transmitted to the second vehicle 102, e.g. according to any of the above enumerated wireless communication standards. ln case the vehicles 101, 102 are comprised in a platoon 110 having additional members,the wireless signal may be transmitted to all vehicles populating the platoon 110, in someembodiments.

The second vehicle 102, upon receiving the wireless signal from the first vehicle 101, inform-ing about the engaged traction control of the first vehicle 101, activates a device for increas-ing wheel pressure of the second vehicle 102 against the road 120. The wheel pressure maybe increased e.g. by lifting up a support axle and thereby get a higher pressure on the drivingwheels of the second vehicle 102. increased wheel pressure brings more friction against theroad 120, which eliminates or at least reduces spinning wheels due to slippery road 120. ln some embodiments, also the distance t between the vehicles 101, 102 may be increased,in order to avoid accidents. ln case the vehicles 101, 102 are driving in a platoon 110 togetherwith other vehicles, the respective distances t betvveen a plurality of, or all vehicles 101, 102of the platoon 110 may be increased such that the platoon 110 may be temporarily dissolved.

Figure 2A illustrates the platoon 110 of Figure 1 as seen from above, when driving in acurve. The platoon 110 comprising the vehicles 101, 102, is driving in a driving lane of theroad 120.

Figure 2B illustrates the vehicles 101, 102 in the platoon 110 driving in an uphill. When thefirst vehicle 101 reaches a slippery segment of the uphill, the wheels of the first vehicle 101may start spinning and a traction control is engaged at the first vehicle 101. The tractioncontrol of the vehicle 101 may thus be activated when throttle input and engine torque are mismatched to road surface conditions.

The traction control may comprise e.g. one or more of the following: brake force applied toone or more wheels; reduction or suppression of spark sequence to one or more cylinders;reduction of fuel supply to one or more cylinders; closing the throttle, if the vehicle 101 isfitted with drive by wire throttle; in case of turbocharged vehicle 101, a boost control solenoidmay be actuated to reduce boost and therefore engine power; increasing the wheel pressureagainst the road 120 by lifting a support axle, etc.

When it is detected that the traction control is engaged in the first vehicle 101, e.g. by asensor, a wireless signal is transmitted to the other vehicle 102, or other vehicles 102, 103, as may be the case in the illustrated embodiment in Figure 2C.

Upon receiving the wireless signal, the other, second vehicle 102 may activate a device for increasing wheel pressure of the second vehicle 102 against the road 120.

The wheel pressure may be increased e.g. by lifting up a support axle and thereby get ahigher pressure on the driving wheels of the second vehicle 102, and/ or all other vehicles102, 103 in the platoon 110. lncreased wheel pressure brings more friction against the road 120, which eliminates or at least reduces spinning wheels due to slippery road 120. ln some embodiments, also the distance t between the vehicles 101, 102 may be increased,in order to avoid accidents. ln case the vehicles 101 , 102 are driving in a platoon 110 togetherwith other vehicles, the respective distances t betvveen a plurality of, or all vehicles 101 , 102,103 of the platoon 110 may be increased such that the platoon 110 may be temporarilydissolved.

Thereby, it is assured that the subsequent vehicles 102, 103 are prepared for the slipperysegment of the uphill by increased friction and possibly also other traction control measuresas enumerated above, upon arrival to the slippery segment.

By increasing the distance t between the vehicles 101, 102, 103, a higher preparedness isachieved in case any, some or all of the vehicles 101, 102, 103 starts having problems withspinning wheels. Thus a longer reaction time is provided for any vehicle 102, 103 drivingbehind any other vehicle 101, in case any vehicle 101, 102 in front starts having problemswith driveability, i.e. spinning wheels. ln some embodiments, an alert may be activated in the second vehicle 102, or other vehicles102, 103 in the platoon 110, e.g. by a visual warning, an audible warning, a haptic warningor any combination thereof.

A significant number of accidents may thereby be prevented with a system that aids thedriver of subsequently following vehicles 102, 103 to know when it is time to activatemeasures to counter lost traction. Thereby, accidents may be avoided; effects of accidentsmay be reduced. Further, safety, economy and environment benefit, since harsh (and po-tentially hazardous) braking can be avoided.

When the hill with the slippery segment has been passed by the vehicles 101, 102, 103, thetraction measurements may be omitted and the inter-vehicular distance t may be reduced to a default or configurable value.

Thereby, air resistance is reduced for the behind vehicle 102, 103, as well as for the platoon 110 as a whole. lt is also avoided that another vehicle place itself in the gap between thevehicles 101, 102, 103 in the platoon 110, splitting up the platoon 110 and reducing the gainin reduced air resistance, in particular when the intervening vehicle is of another (smaller) type such as a motorcycle or car.

Figure 3A discloses an example of a scenario as illustrated in any of Figure 1 and/ or Figure2A-2C, as it may be perceived by the driver of the first vehicle 101.

The first vehicle 101 comprises a control unit 310 in the first vehicle 101 for improving roadholding of a subsequently driving second vehicle 102, and/ or other vehicles 102, 103 in aplatoon 110.

The control unit 310 is a computational device for performing various computational andmanaging tasks. The control unit 310 may receive signals over a wired or wireless commu-nication interface, e.g. as any of the previously discussed, from a communication device 320 and at least one sensor 325.

The communication device 320 may be configured for wireless communication with othercommunication devices situated in other vehicles 102, 103 in the vicinity of the own vehicle101, e.g. in the same platoon 110, according to any of the previously discussed wireless communication interfaces.

The sensor 325 may be based on electromagnetic radiation and may comprise e.g. a radarunit for emitting radio signals and receiving reflections of the emitted signals, in some em-bodiments. However, such sensor may comprise a camera in combination with an imageinterpretation program in some embodiments, and/ or a laser; or a combination of differentkinds of sensors.

Besides comprising a camera, the sensor 325 in other embodiments may comprise e.g. astereo camera, a film camera, or similar device based on radar, infra-red light or micro waves for detecting that the traction control of the vehicle 101 is activated.

Furthermore, in some alternative embodiments, the vehicle 101 may comprise a presenta-tional device 330. The calculated “information” may be outputted on an output unit or presen-tational device 330 such as e.g. a display, a loudspeaker, a projector, a head-up display, adisplay integrated in the windshield of the vehicle 100, a display integrated in the dashboardof the vehicle 100, a tactile device, a portable device of the vehicle driver/ owner, intelligentglasses of the vehicle driver/ owner, etc.; or a combination thereof.

The communication between the control unit 310, the communication device 320, the at leastone sensor 325 and/ or the presentational device 330 may be made via e.g. a communicationbus. The communication bus may comprise e.g. a Controller Area Network (CAN) bus, aMedia Oriented Systems Transport (l\/IOST) bus, or similar. However, the datalink may alter-natively be made over a wireless connection comprising, or at least be inspired by any of the previously discussed wireless communication technologies.

Figure 3B discloses an example of a scenario as illustrated in any of Figure 1 and/ or Figure2A-2C, as it may be perceived by the driver of the second vehicle 102.

The second vehicle 102 may comprise a control unit 340, for improving road holding of thesecond vehicle 102.

The control unit 340 is a computational device for performing various computational andmanaging tasks. The control unit 340 may receive signals over a wired or wireless commu-nication interface, e.g. as any of the previously discussed, from a communication device 350and optionally a presentational device 360, 370.

The optional presentational device 360, 370 may be of the same or similar type as the pre-viously discussed presentational device 330 in the first vehicle 101, in some embodiments.

Figure 4 illustrates an example of a method 400 according to an embodiment. The flow chartin Figure 4 shows the method 400 in a control unit 310. The control unit 310 may in someembodiments be comprised in a first vehicle 101, comprised in a group 110 of coordinatedvehicles 101, 102, 103 in a formation, i.e. one vehicle after another in a queue sequence(vehicle platoon 110).

The method 400 aims at improving road holding of a subsequently driving second vehicle102.

The vehicles 101, 102, 103 in the platoon 110 may be any arbitrary kind of means for con-veyance. However, in some particular embodiments, the vehicles 101, 102, 103 may be ve-hicles for public transportation of passengers such as busses, coaches or similar; or fortransportation of goods such as a truck, trailer etc. The vehicles 101, 102, 103 may com-municate with each other via wireless signals transmitted on any of the previously mentionedwireless interfaces, or e.g. by infrared light. ln order to be able to improve road holding of a subsequently driving second vehicle 102,the method 400 may comprise a number of steps 401-402. However, some of these steps401 -402 may be performed in an alternative manner in some embodiments, according to anyof the herein described examples. The method 400 may comprise the subsequent steps: Step 401 comprises detecting a traction control engagement of the first vehicle 101, e.g. viaa sensor 325 in the first vehicle 101.

Such sensor 325 may be based on electromagnetic radiation such as e.g. radar. However,such detection may alternatively be made by visual detection made by a camera, in combi-nation with an image recognition program; by a sensor based on infra-red light, laser or microwaves; and/ or by a tomographic motion detection system based on detection of radio wavedisturbances, in different embodiments.

Step 402 comprises transmitting a wireless signal, comprising information concerning thedetected 401 traction control engagement, to be received by the second vehicle 102, or anyother vehicle 102, 103 in the vicinity of the first vehicle 101, e.g. comprised in the platoon110.

Further the information may comprise an alert, warning the driver in the other vehicle 102,103 that the traction control is activated. ln some embodiments, the inter-vehicular distance t may be extended betvveen the involvedvehicles 101, 102, 103 in order to reduce risks of collision between the vehicles 101, 102,103.

The length of the inter-vehicular distance t may be extended, e.g. further based on temper-ature, air humidity, road humidity, curvature, velocity of any of the vehicles, line of sight,precipitation.

Figure 5 presents a system 500. The system 500 aims at improving road holding of a secondvehicle 102 driving behind a first vehicle 101.

Further the system 500 comprises a control unit 310 for performing the method 400 accord-ing to any of the previously described steps 401-402 as described above and illustrated inFigure 4. Thus the control unit 310 aims at improving road holding of a subsequently drivingsecond vehicle 102. 11 The control unit 310 is configured to detect a traction control engagement of the first vehicle101. Further the control unit 310 is configured to generate a command to transmit a wirelesssignal, via a transmitter 320, comprising information about the detected traction control en-gagement, to be received by the second vehicle 102.

The control unit 310 may in some embodiments wherein the first vehicle 101 and the subse-quently driving second vehicle 102 are comprised in a platoon 110 and wherein the infor-mation about the detected traction control engagement is transmitted in order to be receivedby all vehicles 101, 102, 103 of the platoon 110.

The control unit 310 may comprise a receiver 510 configured for receiving information fromsensors 325 in the first vehicle 101, for detecting traction control engagement in the firstvehicle 101.

The control unit 310 further may comprise a processor 520 configured for performing various calculations for conducting the method 500 according to at least some of steps 501-502.

Such processor 520 may comprise one or more instances of a processing circuit, i.e. a Cen-tral Processing Unit (CPU), a processing unit, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit(ASIC), a microprocessor, or other processing logic that may interpret and execute instruc-tions. The herein utilised expression “processor” may thus represent a processing circuitrycomprising a plurality of processing circuits, such as, e.g., any, some or all of the ones enu-merated above.

Furthermore, the control unit 310 may comprise a memory 525 in some embodiments. Theoptional memory 525 may comprise a physical device utilised to store data or programs, i.e.,sequences of instructions, on a temporary or permanent basis. According to some embodi-ments, the memory 525 may comprise integrated circuits comprising silicon-based transis-tors. The memory 525 may comprise e.g. a memory card, a flash memory, a USB memory,a hard disc, or another similar volatile or non-volatile storage unit for storing data such ase.g. ROIVI (Read-Only Memory), PROIVI (Programmable Read-Only Memory), EPROIVI(Erasable PROIVI), EEPROIVI (Electrically Erasable PROIVI), etc. in different embodiments.

Further, the control unit 310 may comprise a signal transmitter 530. The signal transmitter530 may be configured for transmitting a signal to be received by the communication devices350 of other vehicles 102, 103 in the vicinity, e.g. in the platoon 110. 12 The previously described steps 501-502 to be performed in the control unit 310 may be im-plemented through the one or more processors 520 within the control unit 310, together withcomputer program product for performing at least some of the functions of the steps 401-402. Thus a computer program product, comprising instructions for performing the steps 401 -402 in the control unit 310 may perform the method 400 comprising at least some of thesteps 401-402 for improving road holding of a subsequently driving second vehicle 102,when the computer program is loaded into the one or more processors 520 of the controlunit 310.

The described steps 401-402 thus may be performed by a computer algorithm, a machineexecutable code, a non-transitory computer-readable medium, or a software instructions pro-grammed into a suitable programmable logic such as the processor 520 in the control unit310.

The computer program product mentioned above may be provided for instance in the formof a data carrier carrying computer program code for performing at least some of the step401-402 according to some embodiments when being loaded into the one or more proces-sors 520 of the control unit 310. The data carrier may be, e.g., a hard disk, a CD ROIVI disc,a memory stick, an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device or any other appropri-ate medium such as a disk or tape that may hold machine readable data in a non-transitorymanner. The computer program product may furthermore be provided as computer programcode on a server and downloaded to the control unit 310 remotely, e.g., over an Internet or an intranet connection.

Further, some embodiments may comprise a vehicle 101, comprising the control unit 310,as described above, for performing the method according to at least some of the describedsteps 401-402.

The system 500 also comprises a sensor 325, arranged on the first vehicle 325, for detectingtraction control engagement of the first vehicle 101. ln addition, the system 500 also comprises a transmitter 320 in the first vehicle 101, fortransmitting a wireless signal concerning the detected traction control engagement, to bereceived by the second vehicle 102; Further, the system 500 comprises a receiver 350 in the second vehicle 102, for receiving awireless signal from the first vehicle 101 comprising information concerning a traction controlengagement of the first vehicle 101. 13 Also, the system 500 also comprises a control unit 340 in the second vehicle 102 drivingbehind a first vehicle 101, for improving road holding of the second vehicle 102.

The control unit 340 is configured to receive a wireless signal from the first vehicle 101 com-prising information concerning a traction control engagement of the first vehicle 101. Thecontrol unit 340 is additionally configured to activate a device for increasing wheel pressureof the second vehicle 102 against the road 120.

Further, in some embodiments, the control unit 340 may be configured to generate a com-mand to increase a distance t between the second vehicle 102 and the first vehicle 101.

According to some alternative embodiments, the first vehicle 101 and the subsequently driv-ing second vehicle 102 are comprised in a platoon 110 and the control unit 340 may befurther configured to generate commands to increase distances t between all vehicles 101,102, 103 in the platoon 110. Further, the control unit 340 may be further configured to acti-vate devices for increasing wheel pressure of the vehicles 101, 102, 103 in the platoon 110against the road 120.

The control unit 340 may comprise a receiver configured for receiving information from the communication device 350 of the second vehicle 102.

The control unit 340 further may comprise a processor configured for performing variouscalculations for conducting a method in the second vehicle 102, driving behind a first vehicle101, for improving road holding of the second vehicle 102.

Such processor may comprise one or more instances of a processing circuit, i.e. a CentralProcessing Unit (CPU), a processing unit, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC),a microprocessor, or other processing logic that may interpret and execute instructions. Theherein utilised expression “processor” may thus represent a processing circuitry comprisinga plurality of processing circuits, such as, e.g., any, some or all of the ones enumeratedabove.

Furthermore, the control unit 340 may comprise a memory in some embodiments. The op-tional memory may comprise a physical device utilised to store data or programs, i.e., se-quences of instructions, on a temporary or permanent basis. According to some embodi-ments, the memory may comprise integrated circuits comprising silicon-based transistors.The memory may comprise e.g. a memory card, a flash memory, a USB memory, a hard 14 disc, or another similar volatile or non-volatile storage unit for storing data such as e.g. ROIVI(Read-Only Memory), PROIVI (Programmable Read-Only Memory), EPROIVI (ErasablePROIVI), EEPROIVI (Electrically Erasable PROIVI), etc. in different embodiments.

Further, the control unit 340 may comprise a signal transmitter. The signal transmitter maybe configured for transmitting a signal to be received by an optional presentational device360, 370 in the vehicle 102, and/ or displays in other vehicles 103 in the platoon 110.

Figure 6 illustrates an example of a method 600 according to an embodiment. The flow chartin Figure 6 shows the method 600 in a control unit 340 of a second vehicle 102. The secondvehicle 102 may be comprised in a group 110 of coordinated vehicles 101, 102, 103 in aformation, i.e. one vehicle after another in a queue sequence (vehicle platoon 110).

The method 600 aims at improving road holding of a subsequently driving second vehicle102. ln order to be able to improve road holding of a subsequently driving second vehicle 102driving behind the first vehicle 101, the method 600 may comprise a number of steps 601-603. However, some of these steps 601-603 may be performed in an alternative manner insome embodiments, according to any of the herein described examples. Some steps suchas e.g. step 602 may be performed only in some optional embodiments. The method 600may comprise the subsequent steps: Step 601 comprises receiving a wireless signal from the first vehicle 101 comprising infor-mation concerning a traction control engagement of the first vehicle 101.

The wireless signal may be received on a wireless communication device 350 in the secondvehicle 102.

Step 602, which may be comprised only in some alternative embodiments, comprises gen-erating a command to increase a distance t between the second vehicle 102 and the firstvehicle 101.

The length of the inter-vehicular distance t may be extended, e.g. further based on temper-ature, air humidity, road humidity, curvature, velocity of any of the vehicles, line of sight, precipitation.

Step 603 comprises activating a device for increasing wheel pressure of the second vehicle 102 against the road 120. ln some embodiments, wherein the first vehicle 101 and the subsequently driving secondvehicle 102 are comprised in a platoon 110 and wherein the distance t betvveen all vehicles101, 102, 103 in the platoon 110 is increased, wheel pressure of all the vehicles 101, 102,103 in the platoon 110 against the road 120 may be activated 602.

The previously described steps 601 -603 to be performed in the control unit 340 may be im-plemented through one or more processors within the control unit 340, together with com-puter program product for performing at least some of the functions of the steps 601-603.Thus a computer program product, comprising instructions for performing the steps 601-603in the control unit 340 may perform the method 600 comprising at least some of the steps601-603 for improving road holding of the second vehicle 102 when the computer programis loaded into the one or more processors of the control unit 410.

The described steps 601-603 thus may be performed by a computer algorithm, a machineexecutable code, a non-transitory computer-readable medium, or a software instructions pro-grammed into a suitable programmable logic such as the processor in the control unit 340.

The computer program product mentioned above may be provided for instance in the formof a data carrier carrying computer program code for performing at least some of the step601-603 according to some embodiments when being loaded into the one or more proces-sors of the control unit 340. The data carrier may be, e.g., a hard disk, a CD ROIVI disc, amemory stick, an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device or any other appropriatemedium such as a disk or tape that may hold machine readable data in a non-transitorymanner. The computer program product may furthermore be provided as computer programcode on a server and downloaded to the control unit 340 remotely, e.g., over an Internet or an intranet connection.

Further, some embodiments may comprise a vehicle 102, comprising the control unit 340,as described above, for performing the method according to at least some of the describedsteps 601-603.

The terminology used in the description of the embodiments as illustrated in the accompa-nying drawings is not intended to be limiting of the described methods 400, 600, control units310, 340; computer program, and/ or system 500. Various changes, substitutions and/ oralterations may be made, without departing from invention embodiments as defined by theappended claims. 16 As used herein, the term "and/ or" comprises any and all combinations of one or more of theassociated listed items. The term “or” as used herein, is to be interpreted as a mathematicalOR, i.e., as an inclusive disjunction; not as a mathematical exclusive OR (XOR), unless ex-pressly stated otherwise. ln addition, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are to be inter-preted as “at least one", thus also possibly comprising a plurality of entities of the same kind,unless expressly stated othen/vise. lt will be further understood that the terms "includes","comprises", "including" and/ or "comprising", specifies the presence of stated features, ac-tions, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/ or components, but do not preclude thepresence or addition of one or more other features, actions, integers, steps, operations, ele-ments, components, and/ or groups thereof. A single unit such as e.g. a processor may fulfilthe functions of several items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures arerecited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of thesemeasures cannot be used to advantage. A computer program may be stored/ distributed ona suitable medium, such as an optical storage medium or a solid-state medium suppliedtogether with or as part of other hardware, but may also be distributed in other forms such as via Internet or other Wired or wireless communication system.

Claims

1. A method (400) in a first vehicle (101) for improving road holding of a subsequentlydriving second vehicle (102), wherein the method (400) comprises:detecting (401) a traction control engagement of the first vehicle (101); andtransmitting (402) a wireless signal, comprising information concerning the detected (401) traction control engagement, to be received by the second vehicle (102).

2. A control unit (310) in a first vehicle (101) for improving road holding of a subse-quently driving second vehicle (102), which control unit (310) is configured to: detect a traction control engagement of the first vehicle (101); and generate a command to transmit a wireless signal, via a transmitter (320), compris-ing information about the detected traction control engagement, to be received by the secondvehicle (102).

3. The control unit (310) according to claim 2, wherein the first vehicle (101) and thesubsequently driving second vehicle (102) are comprised in a platoon (110) and wherein theinformation about the detected traction control engagement is transmitted in order to be re-ceived by all vehicles (101, 102, 103) of the platoon (110).

4. A computer program comprising program code for performing a method (400) ac-cording to claim 1 when the computer program is executed in a processor (520) of a controlunit (310), according to any of claims 2-3.

5. A method (600) in a second vehicle (102), driving behind a first vehicle (101), forimproving road holding of the second vehicle (102), wherein the method (400) comprises: receiving (601) a wireless signal from the first vehicle (101) comprising informationconcerning a traction control engagement of the first vehicle (101); and activating (603) a device for increasing wheel pressure of the second vehicle (102)against the road (120).

6. The method (600) according to claim 5, further comprising:generating (602) a command to increase a distance (t) between the second vehicle(102) and the first vehicle (101).

7. The method (600) according to claim 6, wherein, the first vehicle (101) and the sub-sequently driving second vehicle (102) are comprised in a platoon (110) and wherein thedistance (t) between all vehicles (101, 102, 103) in the platoon (110) is increased; andwherein devices for increasing wheel pressure of the vehicles (101, 102, 103) in the platoon 18 (110) against the road (120) are activated (602).

8. A control unit (340) in a second vehicle (102), driving behind a first vehicle (101),for improving road holding of the second vehicle (102), wherein the control unit (340) is con-figured to: receive a wireless signal from the first vehicle (101) comprising information con-cerning a traction control engagement of the first vehicle (101); and activate a device for increasing wheel pressure of the second vehicle (102) againstthe road (120).

9. The control unit (340) according to claim 8, further configured to:generate a command to increase a distance (t) between the second vehicle (102)and the first vehicle (101).

10.subsequently driving second vehicle (102) are comprised in a platoon (110) and wherein the The control unit (340) according to claim 9, wherein, the first vehicle (101) and the control unit (340) is further configured to generate commands to increase distances (t) be-tween all vehicles (101, 102, 103) in the platoon (110); and also configured to activate de-vices for increasing wheel pressure of the vehicles (101, 102, 103) in the platoon (110)against the road (120).

11.cording to any of claims 5-7 when the computer program is executed in a processor of a A computer program comprising program code for performing a method (500) ac- control unit (340), according to any of claims 8-10.

12.a first vehicle (101), comprising: A system (500) for improving road holding of a second vehicle (102) driving behind a sensor (325) in the first vehicle (101) for detecting traction control engagement ofthe first vehicle (101); a control unit (310) in the first vehicle (101), according to any of claim 3; a transmitter (320) in the first vehicle (101), for transmitting a wireless signal con-cerning the detected traction control engagement, to be received by the second vehicle(102); a receiver (350) in the second vehicle (102), for receiving a wireless signal from thefirst vehicle (101) comprising information concerning a traction control engagement of thefirst vehicle (101); and a control unit (340) in the second vehicle (102), according to any of claims 8-10.