Vehicle control device

• US 8,271,175 B2
• Filed: 08/07/2006
• Issued: 09/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Takenaka, Toru, Shibahata, Yasuji
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Khoi
• Assistant Examiner(s): MOYER, DALE S
• Application Number:
  US11/912,957
• Publication Number:
  US 20090088918A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,234 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1, 701/29, 701 41- 47, 701 65- 66, 701 70- 98, 703/8, 303139-456, 303163-167
• US Class Current: 701/71
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2230/02 Side slip angle, attitude angle, floating angle, drift angle
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2270/86 Optimizing braking by using ESP vehicle or tire model
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 8/17551 determining control parameters related to vehicle stability used in the regulation, e.g. by calculations involving measured or detected parameters
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/184 with wheel brakes
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/20 including control of steering systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/22 including control of suspension systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0031 Mathematical model of the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/068 Road friction coefficient
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/08 related to drivers or passengers
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/10 related to vehicle motion
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/101 Side slip angle of tyre
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0097 Predicting future conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 6/003 in order to control vehicle yaw movement, i.e. around a vertical axis B62D6/007 takes precedence

Abstract

A control means for controlling actuators of a vehicle creates a time series of a future behavior of the vehicle using a vehicle model. A state amount of the vehicle model is initialized on the basis of a state amount of the vehicle, and the future behavior is created starting from the initial state amount. The future behavior is created such that operation commands of the actuators in the vehicle model at the current time coincide with or approximate basic values based on operation of a manipulating device, such as a steering wheel of the vehicle. It is evaluated whether vehicle motion, road surface reaction force, and wheel sliding, in the created future behavior satisfy predetermined restrictive conditions. Based on the evaluation result, the operation commands of the actuators are successively decided. This permits ideal travel of the vehicle to be achieved by properly predicting future behaviors of the vehicle.

Claims

1. A vehicle control device comprising:

an operating device with which a driver of a vehicle having a plurality of wheels drives the vehicle;

a drive manipulated variable detecting means which detects a drive manipulated variable expressing an operation state of the operating device by the driver;

an actuator provided in the vehicle so as to permit a motion of the vehicle to be made in response to an operation command;

an actuator controlling means which sequentially determines the operation command to the actuator on the basis of at least the drive manipulated variable and controls the operation of the actuator according to the determined operation command; and

an actual state amount grasping means which detects or estimates an actual state amount, which is a first state amount related to an actual motion of the vehicle,

wherein the actuator controlling means comprises;

a vehicle model which includes at least a friction model showing a relationship between slippage of the wheels and road surface reaction forces acting on the wheels, a dynamic model showing a relationship between motions of the vehicle and the road surface reaction forces, and a model showing the operating characteristics of the actuator;

a vehicle model initializing means which defines at least a first model state amount related to a motion of the vehicle on the vehicle model as a state amount to be initialized, and initializes a value of the state amount to be initialized at a current time or at a predetermined time in the vicinity thereof to a value determined on the basis of at least the actual state amount before the current time;

a future drive manipulated variable determining means which determines a time series of a future drive manipulated variable after the current time on the basis of at least the drive manipulated variable before the current time;

a first future vehicle behavior determining means which determines a future vehicle behavior, which is a future time series after the current time of a set of the operation command to the actuator of the vehicle model, the motion of the vehicle on the vehicle model to which the operation command has been given, a road surface reaction force, and the slippage of wheels, according to a predetermined first control law by using an initialized vehicle model, which is the vehicle model wherein at least the values of the determined time series of the future drive manipulated variable and the state amount to be initialized have been initialized; and

an evaluating means which selects, as an evaluation object, at least one of the motion of the vehicle, a road surface reaction force, and the slippage of wheels in the future vehicle behavior, and evaluates whether the evaluation object satisfies a predetermined restrictive condition,

wherein, when determining the operation command anew, the processing by the vehicle model initializing means, the future drive manipulated variable determining means, and the first future vehicle behavior determining means is carried out to determine the future vehicle behavior, and the processing by the evaluating means is also carried out on the evaluation object of the determined future vehicle behavior so as to determine a new operation command for the actuator on the basis of at least an evaluation result given by the evaluating means, and

wherein the actuator controlling means comprises a second future vehicle behavior determining means which defines a first future vehicle behavior as the future vehicle behavior determined by the first future vehicle behavior determining means, the second future vehicle behavior determining means determining a second future vehicle behavior when the first future vehicle behavior evaluation object does not satisfy the predetermined restrictive condition, the second future vehicle behavior determined according to a predetermined second control law by using at least the initialized vehicle model, the second future vehicle behavior having a time series of the operation command with a pattern different from that of the time series of the operation command in the first future vehicle behavior, and

when determining the operation command anew the new operation command is determined as the operation command at the current time in the first future vehicle behavior when the first future vehicle behavior evaluation object satisfies the predetermined restrictive condition, and the new operation command is determined on the basis of at least the evaluation result of the evaluation object of the second future vehicle behavior by processing carried out by the evaluating means on the second future vehicle behavior evaluation object when the first future vehicle behavior evaluation object does not satisfy the predetermined restrictive condition.

2. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the first future vehicle behavior determining means comprises a means for determining a future basic operation command, which is a time series of a basic value of the operation command in the future after the current time, on the basis of at least the time series of the future drive manipulated variable that has been determined, and the first control law for the first future vehicle behavior determining means to determine the first future vehicle behavior is a control law for determining the first future vehicle behavior such that at least the difference between an operation command at the current time in the first future vehicle behavior and the basic value at the current time in the determined future basic operation command approximates zero or coincides with zero, and

the second control law for the second future vehicle behavior determining means to determine the second future vehicle behavior is a control law which defines the difference between an operation command at the current time in the second future vehicle behavior and the basic value at the current time in the determined future basic operation command as Δ

2(1), defines the difference between an operation command at the next time following the current time in the second future vehicle behavior and the basic value at the next time following the current time in the determined future basic operation command as Δ

2(2), defines the difference between an operation command at the current time in the first future vehicle behavior and the basic value at the current time in the determined future basic operation command as Δ

1(1), defines the difference between an operation command at the next time following the current time in the first future vehicle behavior and the basic value at the next time following the current time in the determined future basic operation command as Δ

1(2), and determines the second future vehicle behavior such that at least Δ

2(1) is farther away from zero than Δ

1(1) or Δ

2(2) is farther away from zero than Δ

1(2).

3. The vehicle control device according to claim 2, wherein the second control law for the second future vehicle behavior determining means to determine the second future vehicle behavior is a control law for determining the second future vehicle behavior such that the difference between an operation command at arbitrary time k of the second future vehicle behavior and the basic value at the time k in the determined future basic operation command gradually moves away from zero as the time k proceeds.

4. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the first control law for the first future vehicle behavior determining means to determine the first future vehicle behavior includes processing for restricting each value of the time series of an operation command in the first future vehicle behavior such that, when each value of the time series of an operation command in the first future vehicle behavior is input to the initialized vehicle model in a time series manner from the current time side to carry out arithmetic processing of the initialized vehicle model, at least one of the road surface reaction force and the slippage of a wheel determined by the arithmetic processing falls within a predetermined permissible range, and

the second control law for the second future vehicle behavior determining means to determine the second future vehicle behavior includes processing for restricting each value of the time series of an operation command in the second future vehicle behavior such that, when each value of the time series of an operation command in the second future vehicle behavior is input to the initialized vehicle model in a time series manner from the current time side to carry out arithmetic processing of the initialized vehicle model, at least one of the road surface reaction force and the slippage of a wheel determined by the arithmetic processing falls within the predetermined permissible range.

5. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the first control law for the first future vehicle behavior determining means to determine the first future vehicle behavior includes processing for determining each provisional value of the time series of an operation command in the first future vehicle behavior according to a predetermined 1a-th rule on the basis of at least the time series of the future drive manipulated variable that has been determined, processing for inputting each provisional value of the determined operation command of the first future vehicle behavior in the time series manner from the current time side into the initialized vehicle model and carrying out the arithmetic processing of the initialized vehicle model thereby to determine, as a restriction object, at least one of the road surface reaction force and the slippage of a wheel to be combined with each provisional value of the time series of the operation command into a set, processing for determining whether the determined restriction object deviates from a predetermined permissible range, and processing for determining the provisional value as a value constituting the time series of an operation command in the first future vehicle behavior if the restriction object to be combined with the provisional value into a set with respect to each provisional value of the time series of the operation command in the first future vehicle behavior does not deviate from the predetermined permissible range, or for determining a value obtained by correcting the provisional value according to a predetermined 1b-th rule such that the restriction object that has deviated falls within or approaches to a state to fall within the predetermined permissible range as a value constituting the time series of the operation command in the first future vehicle behavior if the restriction object to be combined with the provisional value into a set deviates from the predetermined permissible range, and

the second control law for the second future vehicle behavior determining means to determine the second future vehicle behavior includes processing for determining each provisional value of the time series of the operation command in the second future vehicle behavior according to a predetermined 2a-th rule, processing for inputting each provisional value of the determined operation command of at least the second future vehicle behavior in the time series manner from the current time side into the initialized vehicle model and carrying out the arithmetic processing of the initialized vehicle model thereby to determine, as a restriction object, at least one of the road surface reaction force and the slippage of a wheel to be combined with each provisional value of the time series of the operation command of the second future vehicle behavior into a set, processing for determining whether the determined restriction object deviates from a predetermined permissible range, and processing for determining the provisional value as a value constituting the time series of an operation command in the second future vehicle behavior if the restriction object to be combined with the provisional value into a set with respect to each provisional value of the time series of the operation command in the second future vehicle behavior does not deviate from the predetermined permissible range, or for determining a value obtained by correcting the provisional value according to a predetermined 2b-th rule such that the restriction object that has deviated falls within or approaches to a state to fall within the predetermined permissible range as a value constituting the time series of the operation command in the second future vehicle behavior if the restriction object to be combined with the provisional value into a set deviates from the predetermined permissible range.

6. The vehicle control device according to claim 5, wherein the first future vehicle behavior determining means comprises a means for determining a future basic operation command, which is the time series of a basic value of the operation command in the future after the current time, on the basis of at least the time series of the determined future drive manipulated variable,

the la-th rule for the first future vehicle behavior determining means to determine each provisional value of a time series of an operation command in the first future vehicle behavior is a rule for determining each provisional value of the time series of the operation command in the first future vehicle behavior such that at least the difference between an operation command at the current time in the first future vehicle behavior and the basic value at the current time in the determined future basic operation command approaches to zero or coincides with zero, and

the 2a-th rule for the second future vehicle behavior determining means to determine each provisional value of a time series of an operation command of the second future vehicle behavior is a rule which defines the difference between an operation command at the current time in the second future vehicle behavior and the basic value at the current time in the determined future basic operation command as Δ

2(1), defines the difference between an operation command at the next time following the current time in the second future vehicle behavior and the basic value at the next time following the current time in the determined future basic operation command as Δ

2(2), defines the difference between an operation command at the current time in the first future vehicle behavior and the basic value at the current time in the determined future basic operation command as Δ

1(1), defines the difference between an operation command at the next time following the current time in the first future vehicle behavior and the basic value at the next time following the current time in the determined future basic operation command as Δ

1(2), and determines each provisional value of the time series of the operation command of the second future vehicle behavior such that at least Δ

2(1) is farther away from zero than Δ

1(1) or Δ

2(2) is farther away from zero than Δ

1(2).

7. The vehicle control device according to claim 6, wherein the 2a-th rule for the second future vehicle behavior determining means to determine each provisional value of the time series of the operation command of the second future vehicle behavior is a rule for determining each provisional value of the time series of the operation command of the second future vehicle behavior such that the difference between an operation command at arbitrary time k of the second future vehicle behavior and the basic value at the time k in the determined future basic operation command gradually moves away from zero as the time k proceeds.

8. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the actuator controlling means comprises a first reference state determining means for sequentially determining a reference state before the current time, which is a reference state up to the current time with respect to a predetermined second state amount related to the vehicle motion, on the basis of at least the drive manipulated variable detected by the drive manipulated variable detecting means before the current time, and a second reference state determining means for determining a future reference state, which is a reference state in the future after the current time with respect to the second state amount, on the basis of at least a time series of the future drive manipulated variable that has been determined and the determined reference state before the current time,

the first control law for the first future vehicle behavior determining means to determine the first future vehicle behavior is a control law for determining the first future vehicle behavior such that, when each value of the time series of an operation command in the first future vehicle behavior is input to the initialized vehicle model in a time series manner from the current time side to carry out arithmetic processing of the initialized vehicle model, the second state amount related to the vehicle motion determined by the arithmetic processing approaches to the determined future reference state, and

the second control law for the second future vehicle behavior determining means to determine the second future vehicle behavior is a control law for determining the second future vehicle behavior such that, when each value of the time series of an operation command in the second future vehicle behavior is input to the initialized vehicle model in a time series manner from the current time side to carry out arithmetic processing of the initialized vehicle model, the second state amount related to the vehicle motion determined by the arithmetic processing approaches to the determined future reference state.

9. The vehicle control device according to claim 8, wherein an operation command at arbitrary time k in the first future vehicle behavior determined by the first future vehicle behavior determining means is a resultant value of a first feedforward component and a first feedback component, the first control law for the first future vehicle behavior determining means to determine the first future vehicle behavior is a control law which includes processing for determining the first feedforward component of the operation command at time k in the first future vehicle behavior according to a predetermined first feedforward control law on the basis of at least the value of a drive manipulated variable at time k or time k−

1 in the time series of the determined future drive manipulated variable, processing for determining the first feedback component of the operation command at time k in the first future vehicle behavior according to a predetermined first feedback control law on the basis of the difference between a value at time k−

1 in a second model state amount related to a vehicle motion on the initialized vehicle model and a value at time k or time k−

1 of the determined future reference state such that the difference is brought close to zero, and processing for combining the first feedforward component and the first feedback component at time k in the first future vehicle behavior to determine an operation command at the time k, and

an operation command at arbitrary time k in the second future vehicle behavior determined by the second future vehicle behavior determining means is a resultant value of a second feedforward component and a second feedback component, the second control law for the second future vehicle behavior determining means to determine the second future vehicle behavior is a control law which includes processing for determining the second feedforward component of the operation command at time k in the second future vehicle behavior according to a predetermined second feedforward control law, processing for determining the second feedback component of the operation command at time k in the second future vehicle behavior according to a predetermined second feedback control law on the basis of the difference between a value at time k−

1 in the second model state amount related to the vehicle motion on the initialized vehicle model and a value at time k or time k−

1 of the determined future reference state such that the difference is brought close to zero, and processing for combining the second feedforward component and the second feedback component at time k in the second future vehicle behavior to determine an operation command at the time k.

10. The vehicle control device according to claim 9, wherein the first feedforward component of the operation command at arbitrary time k in the first future vehicle behavior determined by the first future vehicle behavior determining means is constituted of a basic feedforward component and a first auxiliary feedforward component, and the first feedforward control law of the first future vehicle behavior determining means is a control law which includes processing for determining the basic feedforward component of the operation command at arbitrary time k in the first future vehicle behavior on the basis of at least a value of a drive manipulated variable at time k or time k−

1 in the time series of the determined future drive manipulated variable and processing for determining the first auxiliary feedforward component of an operation command at each time of the first future vehicle behavior in a predetermined pattern that causes at least the first auxiliary feedforward component at the current time in the first future vehicle behavior to approach more to zero than a value of the first auxiliary feedforward component at time immediately preceding the current time at which the actuator controlling means attempts to determine a new operation command or to coincide with zero, and

the second feedforward component of an operation command at arbitrary time k in the second future vehicle behavior determined by the second future vehicle behavior determining means is constituted of the basic feedforward component and a second auxiliary feedforward component, and the second feedforward control law of the second future vehicle behavior determining means is a control law which includes processing which defines the second auxiliary feedforward components at the current time and the next time following the current time in the second future vehicle behavior as FF2_2(1) and FF2_2(2), respectively, and the first auxiliary feedforward components at the current time and the next time following the current time in the first future vehicle behavior as FF2_1(1) and FF2_1(2), respectively, and determines a second auxiliary feedforward component of an operation command at each time of the second future vehicle behavior in a predetermined pattern that causes at least FF2_2(1) to be farther away from zero than FF2_1(1) and FF2_2(2) to be farther away from zero than FF2_1(2).

11. The vehicle control device according to claim 10, wherein the second feedforward control law of the second future vehicle behavior determining means is a control law for determining the second auxiliary feedforward component of an operation command at arbitrary time k of the second future vehicle behavior such that it gradually moves away from zero as the time k proceeds.

12. The vehicle control device according to claim 10, wherein the first control law for the first future vehicle behavior determining means further includes processing for taking, as a provisional value, each value of the time series of an operation command obtained by combining the first feedforward component and the first feedback component at time k in the first future vehicle behavior and inputting the provisional value in the time series manner from the current time side into the initialized vehicle model and carrying out the arithmetic processing of the initialized vehicle model thereby to determine, as a restriction object, at least one of the road surface reaction force and the slippage of a wheel to be combined with each value of the time series of the operation command into a set, processing for determining whether the determined restriction object deviates from a predetermined permissible range, and processing for determining the provisional value as a value constituting the time series of an operation command in the future vehicle behavior if the restriction object to be combined with the provisional value into a set with respect to each of the provisional values of the time series of the operation command in the first future vehicle behavior does not deviate from the predetermined permissible range, or for determining each value of an operation command in the future vehicle behavior by correcting the first auxiliary feedforward component in the provisional value according to a predetermined rule such that the restriction object that has deviated falls within or approaches to a state to fall within the predetermined permissible range if the restriction object to be combined with the provisional value into a set deviates from the predetermined permissible range, and

the second control law for the second future vehicle behavior determining means further includes processing for taking, as a provisional value, each value of the time series of an operation command obtained by combining the second feedforward component and the second feedback component at time k in the second future vehicle behavior and inputting the provisional value in the time series manner from the current time side into the initialized vehicle model and carrying out the arithmetic processing of the initialized vehicle model thereby to determine, as a restriction object, at least one of the road surface reaction force and the slippage of a wheel to be combined with each value of the time series of the operation command into a set, processing for determining whether the determined restriction object deviates from a predetermined permissible range, and processing for determining the provisional value as a value constituting the time series of an operation command in the future vehicle behavior if the restriction object to be combined with the provisional value into a set with respect to each of the provisional values of the time series of the operation command in the second future vehicle behavior does not deviate from the predetermined permissible range, or for determining each value of an operation command in the future vehicle behavior by correcting the second auxiliary feedforward component in the provisional value according to a predetermined rule such that the restriction object that has deviated falls within or approaches to a state to fall within the predetermined permissible range if the restriction object to be combined with the provisional value into a set deviates from the predetermined permissible range.

13. The vehicle control device according to claim 12, wherein if a difference between one of the provisional value at the current time of the operation command of the first future vehicle behavior in a case where an operation command at the current time of the first future vehicle behavior determined by the first future vehicle behavior determining means is determined as the new operation command and the provisional value at the current time of the operation command of the second future vehicle behavior in a case where an operation command at the current time of the second future vehicle behavior determined by the second future vehicle behavior determining means is determined as the new operation command, and a new operation command is defined as an error for determining a virtual external force, then the first reference state determining means determines, when determining anew a reference state before the current time, the new reference state before the current time on the basis of at least the drive manipulated variable detected by the drive manipulated variable detecting means and a virtual external force determined on the basis of the error for determining the virtual external force such that the difference approaches to zero.

14. The vehicle control device according to claim 9, wherein the first future vehicle behavior determining means comprises a means for setting a feedback gain of the first feedback control law at each time in the future vehicle behavior in a predetermined pattern that causes at least a feedback gain of the first feedback control law at the current time in the future vehicle behavior to approach more to a predetermined reference gain than a feedback gain value at time immediately preceding the current time at which the actuator controlling means attempts to determine a new operation command or to coincide with the reference gain, and

the second future vehicle behavior determining means comprises a means for setting a feedback gain of the second feedback control law at each time of the second future vehicle behavior in a predetermined pattern wherein, when the feedback gains of the second feedback control law at the current time and the next time following the current time in the second future vehicle behavior are defined as Kfb_2(1) and Kfb_2(2), respectively, and the feedback gains of the first feedback control law at the current time and the next time following the current time in the first future vehicle behavior are defined as Kfb_1(1) and Kfb_1(2), respectively, at least Kfb_2(1) is farther away from the reference gain than Kfb_1(1) or Kfb_2(2) is farther away from the reference gain than Kfb_1(2).

15. The vehicle control device according to claim 14, wherein the means for setting a feedback gain of the second feedback control law sets the feedback gain of a second feedback control law at arbitrary time k of the second future vehicle behavior such that it gradually moves away from the reference gain as the time k proceeds.

16. The vehicle control device according to claim 9, wherein the second reference state determining means comprises a means for determining a future basic reference state after the current time with respect to the second state amount on the basis of at least the time series of the future drive manipulated variable that has been determined and the determined reference state before the current time, a means for determining a reference correction amount for correcting the basic reference state, and a means for determining the future reference state by correcting the determined basic reference state by the reference correction amount, and

the means for determining the reference correction determines, when determining the first future vehicle behavior by the first future vehicle behavior determining means, the reference correction amount at each time of the future vehicle behavior according to a predetermined pattern that causes at least the reference correction amount at the current time in the first future vehicle behavior to approach more to zero than the value of a reference correction amount at time immediately preceding the current time at which the actuator controlling means attempts to determine a new operation command or to coincide with zero, and when determining the second future vehicle behavior by the second future vehicle behavior determining means, the means for determining the reference correction defines the reference correction amounts at the current time and the next time following the current time in the second future vehicle behavior as C2(1) and C2(2), defines the reference correction amounts at the current time and the next time following the current time in the first future vehicle behavior as C1(1) and C1(2), and determines the reference correction amount at each time of the second future vehicle behavior according to a predetermined pattern that causes at least C2(1) to move farther away from zero than C1(1) or C2(2) to move farther away from zero than C1(2).

17. The vehicle control device according to claim 16, wherein the means for determining the reference correction amount determines the reference correction amount at arbitrary time k of the second future vehicle behavior such that it gradually moves away from zero as the time k proceeds.

18. The vehicle control device according to claim 8, wherein the actual state amount grasping means comprises a means for detecting or estimating the second state amount related to an actual motion of the vehicle, and

the first reference state determining means determines, when determining anew the reference state before the current time, a new reference state before the current time on the basis of at least the drive manipulated variable detected by the drive manipulated variable detecting means and a virtual external force determined on the basis of a difference between a past value of the reference state before the current time and the second state amount that has been detected or estimated such that the difference approaches to zero.

19. A vehicle control device comprising:

an operating device with which a driver of a vehicle having a plurality of wheels drives the vehicle;

a drive manipulated variable detecting means which detects a drive manipulated variable expressing an operation state of the operating device by the driver;

an actuator provided in the vehicle so as to permit a motion of the vehicle to be made in response to an operation command;

an actuator controlling means which sequentially determines the operation command to the actuator on the basis of at least the drive manipulated variable and controls the operation of the actuator according to the determined operation command; and

an actual state amount grasping means which detects or estimates an actual state amount, which is a first state amount related to an actual motion of the vehicle,

wherein the actuator controlling means comprises;

a vehicle model which includes at least a friction model showing a relationship between slippage of the wheels and road surface reaction forces acting on the wheels, a dynamic model showing a relationship between motions of the vehicle and the road surface reaction forces, and a model showing the operating characteristics of the actuator;

a vehicle model initializing means which defines at least a first model state amount related to a motion of the vehicle on the vehicle model as a state amount to be initialized, and initializes a value of the state amount to be initialized at a current time or at a predetermined time in the vicinity thereof to a value determined on the basis of at least the actual state amount before the current time;

a future drive manipulated variable determining means which determines a time series of a future drive manipulated variable after the current time on the basis of at least the drive manipulated variable before the current time;

a first future vehicle behavior determining means which determines a future vehicle behavior, which is a future time series after the current time of a set of the operation command to the actuator of the vehicle model, the motion of the vehicle on the vehicle model to which the operation command has been given, a road surface reaction force, and the slippage of wheels, according to a predetermined first control law by using an initialized vehicle model, which is the vehicle model wherein at least the values of the determined time series of the future drive manipulated variable and the state amount to be initialized have been initialized; and

an evaluating means which selects, as an evaluation object, at least one of the motion of the vehicle, a road surface reaction force, and the slippage of wheels in the future vehicle behavior, and evaluates whether the evaluation object satisfies a predetermined restrictive condition,

wherein, when determining the operation command anew, the processing by the vehicle model initializing means, the future drive manipulated variable determining means, and the first future vehicle behavior determining means is carried out to determine the future vehicle behavior, and the processing by the evaluating means is also carried out on the evaluation object of the determined future vehicle behavior so as to determine a new operation command for the actuator on the basis of at least an evaluation result given by the evaluating means, and

wherein the actuator controlling means comprises;

a control law selecting means which defines, as a first future vehicle behavior, the future vehicle behavior determined by the first future vehicle behavior determining means, and selects a second control law for determining a second future vehicle behavior having a time series of the operation command with a pattern different from that of the time series of the operation command of the first future vehicle behavior, the second control law selected from among a predetermined plurality of types of control laws on the basis of a state of deviation of an evaluation object of the first future vehicle behavior from the restrictive condition when the evaluation object of the first future vehicle behavior does not satisfy the predetermined restrictive condition; and

a second future vehicle behavior determining means which determines the second future vehicle behavior by using at least the initialized vehicle model according to the selected second control law, wherein, when determining the operation command anew, the new operation command is determined as the operation command at the current time in the first future vehicle behavior when the first future vehicle behavior evaluation object satisfies the predetermined restrictive condition, and the new operation command is determined on the basis of at least an evaluation result of the evaluation object of the second future vehicle behavior by processing carried out by the evaluating means on the second future vehicle behavior evaluation object when the first future vehicle behavior evaluation object does not satisfy the predetermined restrictive condition.

20. A vehicle control device comprising:

an operating device with which a driver of a vehicle having a plurality of wheels drives the vehicle;

a drive manipulated variable detecting means which detects a drive manipulated variable expressing an operation state of the operating device by the driver;

an actuator provided in the vehicle so as to permit a motion of the vehicle to be made in response to an operation command;

an actuator controlling means which sequentially determines the operation command to the actuator on the basis of at least the drive manipulated variable and controls the operation of the actuator according to the determined operation command; and

an actual state amount grasping means which detects or estimates an actual state amount, which is a first state amount related to an actual motion of the vehicle,

wherein the actuator controlling means comprises;

a vehicle model which includes at least a friction model showing a relationship between slippage of the wheels and road surface reaction forces acting on the wheels, a dynamic model showing a relationship between motions of the vehicle and the road surface reaction forces, and a model showing the operating characteristics of the actuator;

a vehicle model initializing means which defines at least a first model state amount related to a motion of the vehicle on the vehicle model as a state amount to be initialized, and initializes a value of the state amount to be initialized at a current time or at a predetermined time in the vicinity thereof to a value determined on the basis of at least the actual state amount before the current time;

a future drive manipulated variable determining means which determines a time series of a future drive manipulated variable after the current time on the basis of at least the drive manipulated variable before the current time;

a first future vehicle behavior determining means which determines a future vehicle behavior, which is a future time series after the current time of a set of the operation command to the actuator of the vehicle model, the motion of the vehicle on the vehicle model to which the operation command has been given, a road surface reaction force, and the slippage of wheels, according to a predetermined first control law by using an initialized vehicle model, which is the vehicle model wherein at least the values of the determined time series of the future drive manipulated variable and the state amount to be initialized have been initialized; and

an evaluating means which selects, as an evaluation object, at least one of the motion of the vehicle, a road surface reaction force, and the slippage of wheels in the future vehicle behavior, and evaluates whether the evaluation object satisfies a predetermined restrictive condition,

wherein, when determining the operation command anew, the processing by the vehicle model initializing means, the future drive manipulated variable determining means, and the first future vehicle behavior determining means is carried out to determine the future vehicle behavior, and the processing by the evaluating means is also carried out on the evaluation object of the determined future vehicle behavior so as to determine a new operation command for the actuator on the basis of at least an evaluation result given by the evaluating means, and

wherein the actuator controlling means comprises an m-th future vehicle behavior determining means which defines, as a first future vehicle behavior, the future vehicle behavior determined by the first future vehicle behavior determining means, defines M as a predetermined integer value of 2 or more, and when the evaluation object of an (m−

1)th (m;

any integer that is 2≦

m≦

M) future vehicle behavior does not satisfy the predetermined restrictive condition, the m-th future vehicle behavior determining means determines the m-th future vehicle behavior having a time series of the operation command with a pattern different from that of the time series of the operation command of each of the first to the (m−

1)th future vehicle behaviors according to a predetermined m-th control law by using at least the initialized vehicle model, and

when determining the operation command anew, if the evaluation object of the (m−

1)th future vehicle behavior satisfies the predetermined restrictive condition, then the operation command at the current time in the (m−

1)th future vehicle behavior is determined as the new operation command, if the evaluation object of the (m−

1)th future vehicle behavior does not satisfy the predetermined restrictive condition, then the processing for determining the m-th future vehicle behavior is carried out in order from m=2 by the m-th future vehicle behavior determining means, and if an M-th future vehicle behavior has been determined, then the new operation command is determined on the basis of at least an evaluation result given by the evaluating means on the evaluation object of the M-th future vehicle behavior.

21. The vehicle control device according to claim 20, wherein a plurality of sets of the second to the M-th control laws is prepared beforehand, the second to the M-th future vehicle behavior determining means select, from among the plurality of sets, a set of the second to the M-th control laws on the basis of the state of deviation of the determined first future vehicle behavior evaluation object from the predetermined restrictive condition, and any m-th future vehicle behavior determining means among the second to the M-th future vehicle behavior determining means determines the m-th future vehicle behavior according to the m-th control law out of the second to the M-th control laws of the selected set.

22. The vehicle control device according to claim 20, wherein the first future vehicle behavior determining means comprises a means for determining a future basic operation command, which is a time series of a basic value of the operation command in the future after the current time, on the basis of at least the time series of the future drive manipulated variable that has been determined, and the first control law according to which the first future vehicle behavior determining means determines the first future vehicle behavior is a control law for determining the first future vehicle behavior such that at least the difference between an operation command at the current time in the first future vehicle behavior and the basic value at the current time in the determined future basic operation command approximates zero or coincides with zero,

and the m-th control law for the m-th future vehicle behavior determining means to determine the m-th future vehicle behavior is a control law which defines the difference between an operation command at the current time in the m-th future vehicle behavior and the basic value at the current time in the determined future basic operation command as Δ

m(1), defines the difference between an operation command at the next time following the current time in the m-th future vehicle behavior and the basic value at the next time following the current time in the determined future basic operation command as Δ

m(2), defines the difference between an operation command at the current time in the (m−

1)th future vehicle behavior and the basic value at the current time in the determined future basic operation command as Δ

m−

1(1), defines the difference between an operation command at the next time following the current time in the (m−

1)th future vehicle behavior and the basic value at the next time following the current time in the determined future basic operation command as Δ

m−

1(2), and determines the m-th future vehicle behavior such that at least Δ

m(1) is farther away from zero than Δ

m−

1(1) or Δ

m(2) is farther away from zero than Δ

m−

1(2).

23. The vehicle control device according to claim 22, wherein the m-th control law for the m-th future vehicle behavior determining means to determine the m-th future vehicle behavior is a control law for determining the m-th future vehicle behavior such that the difference between an operation command at arbitrary time k of the m-th future vehicle behavior and the basic value at the time k in the determined future basic operation command gradually moves away from zero as the time k proceeds.

24. The vehicle control device according to claim 20, wherein the first control law for the first future vehicle behavior determining means to determine the first future vehicle behavior includes processing for restricting each value of the time series of an operation command in the first future vehicle behavior such that, when each value of the time series of an operation command in the first future vehicle behavior is input to the initialized vehicle model in a time series manner from the current time side to carry out arithmetic processing of the initialized vehicle model, at least one of the road surface reaction force and the slippage of a wheel determined by the arithmetic processing falls within a predetermined permissible range, and

the m-th control law for the m-th future vehicle behavior determining means to determine the m-th future vehicle behavior includes processing for restricting each value of the time series of an operation command in the m-th future vehicle behavior such that, when each value of the time series of an operation command in the m-th future vehicle behavior is input to the initialized vehicle model in a time series manner from the current time side to carry out arithmetic processing of the initialized vehicle model, at least one of the road surface reaction force and the slippage of a wheel determined by the arithmetic processing falls within a predetermined permissible range.

25. The vehicle control device according to claim 20, where the first control law for the first future vehicle behavior determining means to determine the first future vehicle behavior includes processing for determining each provisional value of the time series of the operation command in the first future vehicle behavior according to a predetermined 1a-th rule on the basis of at least the time series of the future drive manipulated variable that has been determined, processing for inputting each provisional value of the determined operation command of the first future vehicle behavior in the time series manner from the current time side into the initialized vehicle model and carrying out the arithmetic processing of the initialized vehicle model thereby to determine, as a restriction object, at least one of the road surface reaction force and the slippage of a wheel to be combined with each provisional value of the time series of the operation command into a set, processing for determining whether the determined restriction object deviates from a predetermined permissible range, and processing for determining the provisional value as a value constituting the time series of an operation command in the first future vehicle behavior if the restriction object to be combined with the provisional value into a set with respect to each provisional value of the time series of an operation command in the first future vehicle behavior does not deviate from the predetermined permissible range, or for determining a value obtained by correcting the provisional value according to a predetermined 1b-th rule such that the restriction object that has deviated falls within or approaches to a state to fall within the predetermined permissible range as a value constituting the time series of the operation command in the first future vehicle behavior if the restriction object to be combined with the provisional value into a set deviates from the predetermined permissible range, and

the m-th control law for the m-th future vehicle behavior determining means to determine the m-th future vehicle behavior includes processing for determining each provisional value of the time series of the operation command in the m-th future vehicle behavior according to a predetermined ma-th rule, processing for inputting at least each provisional value of the determined operation command of the m-th future vehicle behavior in the time series manner from the current time side into the initialized vehicle model and carrying out arithmetic processing of the initialized vehicle model thereby to determine, as a restriction object, at least one of the road surface reaction force and the slippage of a wheel to be combined with each provisional value of the time series of the operation command of the m-th future vehicle behavior into a set, processing for determining whether the determined restriction object deviates from a predetermined permissible range, and processing for determining the provisional value as a value constituting the time series of an operation command in the m-th future vehicle behavior if the restriction object to be combined with the provisional value into a set with respect to each provisional value of the time series of an operation command in the m-th future vehicle behavior does not deviate from the predetermined permissible range, or for determining a value obtained by correcting the provisional value according to a predetermined mb-th rule such that the restriction object that has deviated falls within or approaches to a state to fall within the predetermined permissible range as a value constituting the time series of the operation command in the second future vehicle behavior if the restriction object to be combined with the provisional value into a set deviates from the predetermined permissible range.

26. The vehicle control device according to claim 25, wherein the first future vehicle behavior determining means comprises a means for determining a future basic operation command, which is the time series of a basic value of the operation command in the future after the current time, on the basis of at least the time series of the determined future drive manipulated variable,

the la-th rule for the first future vehicle behavior determining means to determine each provisional value of a time series of an operation command in the first future vehicle behavior is a rule for determining each provisional value of the time series of the operation command in the first future vehicle behavior such that at least the difference between an operation command at the current time in the first future vehicle behavior and the basic value at the current time in the determined future basic operation command approaches to zero or coincides with zero, and

the ma-th rule for the m-th future vehicle behavior determining means to determine each provisional value of a time series of an operation command of the m-th future vehicle behavior is a rule which defines the difference between an operation command at the current time in the m-th future vehicle behavior and the basic value at the current time in the determined future basic operation command as Δ

m(1), defines the difference between an operation command at the next time following the current time in the m-th future vehicle behavior and the basic value at the next time following the current time in the determined future basic operation command as Δ

m(2), defines the difference between an operation command at the current time in the (m−

1)th future vehicle behavior and the basic value at the current time in the determined future basic operation command as Δ

m−

1(1), defines the difference between an operation command at the next time following the current time in the (m−

1)th future vehicle behavior and the basic value at the next time following the current time in the determined future basic operation command as Δ

m−

1(2), and determines each provisional value of the time series of the operation command of the m-th future vehicle behavior such that at least Δ

m(1) is farther away from zero than Δ

m−

1(1) or Δ

m(2) is farther away from zero than Δ

m−

1(2).

27. The vehicle control device according to claim 26, wherein the ma-th rule for the m-th future vehicle behavior determining means to determine each provisional value of the time series of the operation command of the m-th future vehicle behavior is a rule for determining each provisional value of the time series of the operation command in the m-th future vehicle behavior such that the difference between an operation command at arbitrary time k of the m-th future vehicle behavior and the basic value at the time k in the determined future basic operation command gradually moves away from zero as the time k proceeds.

28. The vehicle control device according to claim 20, wherein the actuator controlling means comprises a first reference state determining means for sequentially determining a reference state before the current time, which is a reference state up to the current time with respect to a predetermined second state amount related to the vehicle motion, on the basis of at least the drive manipulated variable detected by the drive manipulated variable detecting means before the current time, and a second reference state determining means for determining a future reference state, which is a reference state in the future after the current time with respect to the second state amount, on the basis of at least a time series of the future drive manipulated variable that has been determined and the determined reference state before the current time,

the first control law for the first future vehicle behavior determining means to determine the first future vehicle behavior is a control law for determining the first future vehicle behavior such that, when each value of the time series of an operation command in the first future vehicle behavior is input to the initialized vehicle model in a time series manner from the current time side to carry out arithmetic processing of the initialized vehicle model, the second state amount related to the vehicle motion determined by the arithmetic processing approaches to the determined future reference state, and

the m-th control law for the m-th future vehicle behavior determining means to determine the m-th future vehicle behavior is a control law for determining the m-th future vehicle behavior such that, when each value of the time series of an operation command in the m-th future vehicle behavior is input to the initialized vehicle model in a time series manner from the current time side to carry out arithmetic processing of the initialized vehicle model, the second state amount related to the vehicle motion determined by the arithmetic processing approaches to the determined future reference state.

29. The vehicle control device according to claim 28, wherein an operation command at arbitrary time k in the first future vehicle behavior determined by the first future vehicle behavior determining means is a resultant value of a first feedforward component and a first feedback component, the first control law for the first future vehicle behavior determining means to determine the first future vehicle behavior is a control law which includes processing for determining the first feedforward component of the operation command at time k in the first future vehicle behavior according to a predetermined first feedforward control law on the basis of at least the value of a drive manipulated variable at time k or time k−

1 in the time series of the determined future drive manipulated variable, processing for determining the first feedback component of the operation command at time k in the first future vehicle behavior according to a predetermined first feedback control law on the basis of the difference between a value at time k−

1 in a second model state amount related to a vehicle motion on the initialized vehicle model and a value at time k or time k−

1 of the determined future reference state such that the difference is brought close to zero, and processing for combining the first feedforward component and the first feedback component at time k in the first future vehicle behavior to determine an operation command at the time k, and

an operation command at arbitrary time k in the m-th future vehicle behavior determined by the m-th future vehicle behavior determining means is a resultant value of an m-th feedforward component and an m-th feedback component, the m-th control law for the m-th future vehicle behavior determining means to determine the m-th future vehicle behavior is a control law which includes processing for determining the m-th feedforward component of the operation command at time k in the m-th future vehicle behavior according to a predetermined m-th feedforward control law, processing for determining the m-th feedback component of the operation command at time k in the m-th future vehicle behavior according to a predetermined m-th feedback control law on the basis of the difference between a value at time k−

1 in the second model state amount related to the vehicle motion on the initialized vehicle model and a value at time k or time k−

1 of the determined future reference state such that the difference is brought close to zero, and processing for combining the m-th feedforward component and the m-th feedback component at time k in the m-th future vehicle behavior to determine an operation command at the time k.

30. The vehicle control device according to claim 29, wherein the first feedforward component of the operation command at arbitrary time k in the first future vehicle behavior determined by the first future vehicle behavior determining means is constituted of a basic feedforward component and a first auxiliary feedforward component, and the first feedforward control law of the first future vehicle behavior determining means is a control law which includes processing for determining the basic feedforward component of the operation command at arbitrary time k in the first future vehicle behavior on the basis of at least a value of a drive manipulated variable at time k or time k−

1 in the time series of the determined future drive manipulated variable and processing for determining the first auxiliary feedforward component of an operation command at each time of the first future vehicle behavior in a predetermined pattern that causes at least the first auxiliary feedforward component at the current time in the first future vehicle behavior to approach more to zero than a value of the first auxiliary feedforward component at time immediately preceding the current time at which the actuator controlling means attempts to determine a new operation command or to coincide with zero, and

the m-th feedforward component of an operation command at arbitrary time k in the m-th future vehicle behavior determined by the m-th future vehicle behavior determining means is constituted of the basic feedforward component and an m-th auxiliary feedforward component, and the m-th feedforward control law of the m-th future vehicle behavior determining means is a control law which includes processing which defines the m-th auxiliary feedforward components at the current time and the next time following the current time in the m-th future vehicle behavior as FF2m(1) and FF2m(2), respectively, and the (m−

1)th auxiliary feedforward components at the current time and the next time following the current time in the (m−

1)th future vehicle behavior as FF2m−

1(1) and FF2m−

1(2), respectively, and determines an m-th auxiliary feedforward component of an operation command at each time of the m-th future vehicle behavior in a predetermined pattern that causes at least FF2m(1) to move farther away from zero than FF2m−

1(1) or FF2m(2) to move farther away from zero than FF2m−

1(2).

31. The vehicle control device according to claim 30, wherein the m-th feedforward control law of the m-th future vehicle behavior determining means is a control law for determining the m-th auxiliary feedforward component of an operation command at arbitrary time k of the m-th future vehicle behavior such that it gradually moves away from zero as the time k proceeds.

32. The vehicle control device according to claim 30, wherein the first control law for the first future vehicle behavior determining means further includes processing for taking, as a provisional value, each value of the time series of an operation command obtained by combining the first feedforward component and the first feedback component at time k in the first future vehicle behavior and inputting the provisional value in the time series manner from the current time side into the initialized vehicle model and carrying out the arithmetic processing of the initialized vehicle model thereby to determine, as a restriction object, at least one of the road surface reaction force and the slippage of a wheel to be combined with each value of the time series of the operation command into a set, processing for determining whether the determined restriction object deviates from a predetermined permissible range, and processing for determining the provisional value as a value constituting the time series of an operation command in the future vehicle behavior if the restriction object to be combined with the provisional value into a set with respect to each of the provisional values of the time series of the operation command in the first future vehicle behavior does not deviate from the predetermined permissible range, or for determining each value of an operation command in the future vehicle behavior by correcting the first auxiliary feedforward component in the provisional value according to a predetermined rule such that the restriction object that has deviated falls within or approaches to a state to fall within the predetermined permissible range if the restriction object to be combined with the provisional value into a set deviates from the predetermined permissible range, and

the m-th control law for the m-th future vehicle behavior determining means further includes processing for taking, as a provisional value, each value of the time series of an operation command obtained by combining the m-th feedforward component and the m-th feedback component at time k in the m-th future vehicle behavior and inputting the provisional value in the time series manner from the current time side into the initialized vehicle model and carrying out the arithmetic processing of the initialized vehicle model thereby to determine, as a restriction object, at least one of the road surface reaction force and the slippage of a wheel to be combined with each value of the time series of the operation command into a set, processing for determining whether the determined restriction object deviates from a predetermined permissible range, and processing for determining the provisional value as a value constituting the time series of an operation command in the future vehicle behavior if the restriction object to be combined with the provisional value into a set with respect to each of the provisional values of the time series of the operation command in the m-th future vehicle behavior does not deviate from the predetermined permissible range, or for determining each value of an operation command in the future vehicle behavior by correcting the m-th auxiliary feedforward component in the provisional value according to a predetermined rule such that the restriction object that has deviated falls within or approaches to a state to fall within the predetermined permissible range if the restriction object to be combined with the provisional value into a set deviates from the predetermined permissible range.

33. The vehicle control device according to claim 32, wherein if a difference between one of the provisional value at the current time of the operation command of the first future vehicle behavior in a case where an operation command at the current time of the first future vehicle behavior determined by the first future vehicle behavior determining means is determined as the new operation command and the provisional value at the current time of the operation command of the m-th future vehicle behavior in a case where an operation command at the current time of the m-th future vehicle behavior determined by the m-th future vehicle behavior determining means is determined as a new operation command, and a new operation command is defined as an error for determining a virtual external force, then the first reference state determining means determines, when determining anew the reference state before the current time, a new reference state before the current time on the basis of at least the drive manipulated variable detected by the drive manipulated variable detecting means and a virtual external force determined on the basis of the error for determining the virtual external force such that the difference approaches to zero.

34. The vehicle control device according to claim 29, wherein the first future vehicle behavior determining means comprises a means for setting a feedback gain of the first feedback control law at each time in the future vehicle behavior in a predetermined pattern that causes at least a feedback gain of the first feedback control law at the current time in the future vehicle behavior to approach more to a predetermined reference gain than a feedback gain value at time immediately preceding the current time at which the actuator controlling means attempts to determine a new operation command or to coincide with the reference gain, and

the m-th future vehicle behavior determining means comprises a means for setting a feedback gain of the m-th feedback control law at each time of the m-th future vehicle behavior in a predetermined pattern wherein, when the feedback gains of the m-th feedback control law at the current time and the next time following the current time in the m-th future vehicle behavior are defined as Kfbm(1) and Kfbm(2), respectively, and the feedback gains of the (m−

1)th feedback control law at the current time and the next time following the current time in the (m−

1)th future vehicle behavior are defined as Kfbm−

1(1) and Kfbm−

1(2), respectively, at least Kfbm(1) is farther away from the reference gain than Kfbm−

1(1) or Kfbm(2) is farther away from the reference gain than Kfbm−

1(2).

35. The vehicle control device according to claim 34, wherein the means for setting a feedback gain of the m-th feedback control law sets a feedback gain of an m-th feedback control law at arbitrary time k of the m-th future vehicle behavior such that it gradually moves away from the reference gain as the time k proceeds.

36. The vehicle control device according to claim 29, wherein the second reference state determining means comprises a means for determining a future basic reference state after the current time with respect to the second state amount on the basis of at least the time series of the future drive manipulated variable that has been determined and the determined reference state before the current time, a means for determining a reference correction amount for correcting the basic reference state, and a means for determining the future reference state by correcting the determined basic reference state by the reference correction amount, and

the means for determining the reference correction amount determines, when determining the first future vehicle behavior by the first future vehicle behavior determining means, the reference correction amount at each time of the future vehicle behavior according to a predetermined pattern that causes at least the reference correction amount at the current time in the first future vehicle behavior to approach more to zero than the value of a reference correction amount at time immediately preceding the current time at which the actuator controlling means attempts to determine a new operation command or to coincide with zero, and when determining the m-th future vehicle behavior by the m-th future vehicle behavior determining means, the means for determining the reference correction defines the reference correction amounts at the current time and the next time following the current time in the m-th future vehicle behavior as Cm(1) and Cm(2), respectively, defines the reference correction amounts at the current time and the next time following the current time in the (m−

1)th future vehicle behavior as Cm−

1(1) and Cm−

1(2), respectively, and determines the reference correction amount at each time of the m-th future vehicle behavior according to a predetermined pattern that causes at least Cm(1) to be farther away from zero than Cm−

1(1) or causes Cm(2) to be farther away from zero than Cm−

1(2).

37. The vehicle control device according to claim 36, wherein the means for determining the reference correction amount determines the reference correction amount at arbitrary time k of the m-th future vehicle behavior such that it gradually moves away from zero as the time k proceeds.

38. The vehicle control device according to claim 28, wherein the actual state amount grasping means comprises a means for detecting or estimating the second state amount related to an actual motion of the vehicle, and

the first reference state determining means determines, when determining anew the reference state before the current time, a new reference state before the current time on the basis of at least the drive manipulated variable detected by the drive manipulated variable detecting means and a virtual external force determined on the basis of a difference between a past value of the reference state before the current time and the second state amount that has been detected or estimated such that the difference approaches to zero.

49. The vehicle control device according to claim 22, wherein the first future vehicle behavior determining means comprises a means for setting a feedback gain of the first feedback control law at each time in the future vehicle behavior in a predetermined pattern that causes at least a feedback gain of the first feedback control law at the current time in the future vehicle behavior to approach more to a predetermined reference gain than a feedback gain value at time immediately preceding the current time at which the actuator controlling means attempts to determine a new operation command or to coincide with the reference gain.

39. A vehicle control device comprising:

an operating device with which a driver of a vehicle having a plurality of wheels drives the vehicle;

a drive manipulated variable detecting means which detects a drive manipulated variable expressing an operation state of the operating device by the driver;

an actuator provided in the vehicle so as to permit a motion of the vehicle to be made in response to an operation command;

an actuator controlling means which sequentially determines the operation command to the actuator on the basis of at least the drive manipulated variable and controls the operation of the actuator according to the determined operation command; and

an actual state amount grasping means which detects or estimates an actual state amount, which is a first state amount related to an actual motion of the vehicle,

wherein the actuator controlling means comprises;

a vehicle model which includes at least a friction model showing a relationship between slippage of the wheels and road surface reaction forces acting on the wheels, a dynamic model showing a relationship between motions of the vehicle and the road surface reaction forces, and a model showing the operating characteristics of the actuator;

a vehicle model initializing means which defines at least a first model state amount related to a motion of the vehicle on the vehicle model as a state amount to be initialized, and initializes a value of the state amount to be initialized at a current time or at a predetermined time in the vicinity thereof to a value determined on the basis of at least the actual state amount before the current time;

a future drive manipulated variable determining means which determines a time series of a future drive manipulated variable after the current time on the basis of at least the drive manipulated variable before the current time;

a first future vehicle behavior determining means which determines a future vehicle behavior, which is a future time series after the current time of a set of the operation command to the actuator of the vehicle model, the motion of the vehicle on the vehicle model to which the operation command has been given, a road surface reaction force, and the slippage of wheels, according to a predetermined first control law by using an initialized vehicle model, which is the vehicle model wherein at least the values of the determined time series of the future drive manipulated variable and the state amount to be initialized have been initialized; and

an evaluating means which selects, as an evaluation object, at least one of the motion of the vehicle, a road surface reaction force, and the slippage of wheels in the future vehicle behavior, and evaluates whether the evaluation object satisfies a predetermined restrictive condition,

wherein, when determining the operation command anew, the processing by the vehicle model initializing means, the future drive manipulated variable determining means, and the first future vehicle behavior determining means is carried out to determine the future vehicle behavior, and the processing by the evaluating means is also carried out on the evaluation object of the determined future vehicle behavior so as to determine a new operation command for the actuator on the basis of at least an evaluation result given by the evaluating means,

wherein the first future vehicle behavior determining means comprises a means for determining a future basic operation command, the future basic operation command being a time series of a basic value of the operation command in the future after the current time, the future basic operation command determined on the basis of at least the time series of the future drive manipulated variable that has been determined, and

the first control law according to which the first future vehicle behavior determining means determines the future vehicle behavior is a control law for determining the future vehicle behavior such that at least the difference between an operation command at the current time in the future vehicle behavior and the basic value at the current time in the determined future basic operation command approximates zero or coincides with zero.

40. A vehicle control device comprising:

an operating device with which a driver of a vehicle having a plurality of wheels drives the vehicle;

a drive manipulated variable detecting means which detects a drive manipulated variable expressing an operation state of the operating device by the driver;

an actuator provided in the vehicle so as to permit a motion of the vehicle to be made in response to an operation command;

an actuator controlling means which sequentially determines the operation command to the actuator on the basis of at least the drive manipulated variable and controls the operation of the actuator according to the determined operation command; and

an actual state amount grasping means which detects or estimates an actual state amount, which is a first state amount related to an actual motion of the vehicle,

wherein the actuator controlling means comprises;

a vehicle model which includes at least a friction model showing a relationship between slippage of the wheels and road surface reaction forces acting on the wheels, a dynamic model showing a relationship between motions of the vehicle and the road surface reaction forces, and a model showing the operating characteristics of the actuator;

a vehicle model initializing means which defines at least a first model state amount related to a motion of the vehicle on the vehicle model as a state amount to be initialized, and initializes a value of the state amount to be initialized at a current time or at a predetermined time in the vicinity thereof to a value determined on the basis of at least the actual state amount before the current time;

a future drive manipulated variable determining means which determines a time series of a future drive manipulated variable after the current time on the basis of at least the drive manipulated variable before the current time;

a first future vehicle behavior determining means which determines a future vehicle behavior, which is a future time series after the current time of a set of the operation command to the actuator of the vehicle model, the motion of the vehicle on the vehicle model to which the operation command has been given, a road surface reaction force, and the slippage of wheels, according to a predetermined first control law by using an initialized vehicle model, which is the vehicle model wherein at least the values of the determined time series of the future drive manipulated variable and the state amount to be initialized have been initialized; and

an evaluating means which selects, as an evaluation object, at least one of the motion of the vehicle, a road surface reaction force, and the slippage of wheels in the future vehicle behavior, and evaluates whether the evaluation object satisfies a predetermined restrictive condition,

wherein, when determining the operation command anew, the processing by the vehicle model initializing means, the future drive manipulated variable determining means, and the first future vehicle behavior determining means is carried out to determine the future vehicle behavior, and the processing by the evaluating means is also carried out on the evaluation object of the determined future vehicle behavior so as to determine a new operation command for the actuator on the basis of at least an evaluation result given by the evaluating means,

wherein, when determining the operation command anew, the actuator controlling means determines, as the new operation command, an operation command at the current time in a future vehicle behavior if an evaluation object of the future vehicle behavior determined by the first future vehicle behavior determining means satisfies the predetermined restrictive condition, or determines, as the new operation command, an operation command obtained by correcting the operation command at the current time in the future vehicle behavior according to a predetermined correction rule if the evaluation object of the future vehicle behavior does not satisfy the predetermined restrictive condition, and

wherein the first future vehicle behavior determining means comprises a means for determining a future basic operation command, which is a time series of a basic value of the operation command in the future after the current time, on the basis of at least the time series of the future drive manipulated variable that has been determined, and the first control law according to which the first future vehicle behavior determining means determines the future vehicle behavior is a control law for determining the future vehicle behavior such that at least the difference between an operation command at the current time in the future vehicle behavior and the basic value at the current time in the determined future basic operation command approximates zero or coincides with zero, and

the correction rule for correcting the operation command at the current time in the future vehicle behavior if the evaluation object of the determined future vehicle behavior does not satisfy the predetermined restrictive condition is a rule for correcting the value of the operation command at the current time in the future vehicle behavior such that the difference between an operation command obtained by correcting the operation command at the current time in the future vehicle behavior and the basic value at the current time in the determined future basic operation command is farther away from zero than the difference between a before-correction operation command at the current time in the future vehicle behavior and the basic value at the current time in the determined future basic operation command.

41. A vehicle control device comprising:

an operating device with which a driver of a vehicle having a plurality of wheels drives the vehicle;

a drive manipulated variable detecting means which detects a drive manipulated variable expressing an operation state of the operating device by the driver;

an actuator provided in the vehicle so as to permit a motion of the vehicle to be made in response to an operation command;

an actuator controlling means which sequentially determines the operation command to the actuator on the basis of at least the drive manipulated variable and controls the operation of the actuator according to the determined operation command; and

an actual state amount grasping means which detects or estimates an actual state amount, which is a first state amount related to an actual motion of the vehicle,

wherein the actuator controlling means comprises;

a vehicle model which includes at least a friction model showing a relationship between slippage of the wheels and road surface reaction forces acting on the wheels, a dynamic model showing a relationship between motions of the vehicle and the road surface reaction forces, and a model showing the operating characteristics of the actuator;

a vehicle model initializing means which defines at least a first model state amount related to a motion of the vehicle on the vehicle model as a state amount to be initialized, and initializes a value of the state amount to be initialized at a current time or at a predetermined time in the vicinity thereof to a value determined on the basis of at least the actual state amount before the current time;

a future drive manipulated variable determining means which determines a time series of a future drive manipulated variable after the current time on the basis of at least the drive manipulated variable before the current time;

a first future vehicle behavior determining means which determines a future vehicle behavior, which is a future time series after the current time of a set of the operation command to the actuator of the vehicle model, the motion of the vehicle on the vehicle model to which the operation command has been given, a road surface reaction force, and the slippage of wheels, according to a predetermined first control law by using an initialized vehicle model, which is the vehicle model wherein at least the values of the determined time series of the future drive manipulated variable and the state amount to be initialized have been initialized; and

an evaluating means which selects, as an evaluation object, at least one of the motion of the vehicle, a road surface reaction force, and the slippage of wheels in the future vehicle behavior, and evaluates whether the evaluation object satisfies a predetermined restrictive condition,

wherein, when determining the operation command anew, the processing by the vehicle model initializing means, the future drive manipulated variable determining means, and the first future vehicle behavior determining means is carried out to determine the future vehicle behavior, and the processing by the evaluating means is also carried out on the evaluation object of the determined future vehicle behavior so as to determine a new operation command for the actuator on the basis of at least an evaluation result given by the evaluating means, and

wherein the first control law for the first future vehicle behavior determining means to determine the future vehicle behavior includes;

processing for determining each provisional value of the time series of the operation command in the future vehicle behavior according to a predetermined 1a-th rule on the basis of at least the time series of the future drive manipulated variable that has been determined;

processing for inputting at least each provisional value of the determined operation command in the time series manner from the current time side into the initialized vehicle model and carrying out the arithmetic processing of the initialized vehicle model to determine, as a restriction object, at least one of the road surface reaction force and the slippage of a wheel to be combined with each provisional value of the time series of the operation command into a set;

processing for determining whether the determined restriction object deviates from a predetermined permissible range; and

processing for determining one of;

the provisional value as a value constituting the time series of an operation command in the future vehicle behavior if the restriction object to be combined with the provisional value into a set with respect to each of the provisional values does not deviate from the predetermined permissible range; and

a value obtained by correcting the provisional value according to a predetermined 1b-th rule such that the restriction object that has deviated falls within or approaches the predetermined permissible range as a value constituting the time series of the operation command in the future vehicle behavior when the restriction object to be combined with the provisional value into a set deviates from the predetermined permissible range.

42. The vehicle control device according to claim 41, wherein the first future vehicle behavior determining means comprises a means for determining a future basic operation command, which is the time series of a basic value of the operation command in the future after the current time, on the basis of at least the time series of the determined future drive manipulated variable, wherein the 1a-th rule for the first future vehicle behavior determining means to determine each provisional value of an operation command in the future vehicle behavior is a rule for determining the future vehicle behavior such that at least the difference between an operation command at the current time in the future vehicle behavior and the basic value at the current time in the determined future basic operation command approaches to zero or coincides with zero.

43. A vehicle control device comprising:

an operating device with which a driver of a vehicle having a plurality of wheels drives the vehicle;

a drive manipulated variable detecting means which detects a drive manipulated variable expressing an operation state of the operating device by the driver;

an actuator provided in the vehicle so as to permit a motion of the vehicle to be made in response to an operation command;

an actuator controlling means which sequentially determines the operation command to the actuator on the basis of at least the drive manipulated variable and controls the operation of the actuator according to the determined operation command; and

an actual state amount grasping means which detects or estimates an actual state amount, which is a first state amount related to an actual motion of the vehicle,

wherein the actuator controlling means comprises;

a vehicle model which includes at least a friction model showing a relationship between slippage of the wheels and road surface reaction forces acting on the wheels, a dynamic model showing a relationship between motions of the vehicle and the road surface reaction forces, and a model showing the operating characteristics of the actuator;

a vehicle model initializing means which defines at least a first model state amount related to a motion of the vehicle on the vehicle model as a state amount to be initialized, and initializes a value of the state amount to be initialized at a current time or at a predetermined time in the vicinity thereof to a value determined on the basis of at least the actual state amount before the current time;

a future drive manipulated variable determining means which determines a time series of a future drive manipulated variable after the current time on the basis of at least the drive manipulated variable before the current time;

a first future vehicle behavior determining means which determines a future vehicle behavior, which is a future time series after the current time of a set of the operation command to the actuator of the vehicle model, the motion of the vehicle on the vehicle model to which the operation command has been given, a road surface reaction force, and the slippage of wheels, according to a predetermined first control law by using an initialized vehicle model, which is the vehicle model wherein at least the values of the determined time series of the future drive manipulated variable and the state amount to be initialized have been initialized; and

an evaluating means which selects, as an evaluation object, at least one of the motion of the vehicle, a road surface reaction force, and the slippage of wheels in the future vehicle behavior, and evaluates whether the evaluation object satisfies a predetermined restrictive condition,

wherein, when determining the operation command anew, the processing by the vehicle model initializing means, the future drive manipulated variable determining means, and the first future vehicle behavior determining means is carried out to determine the future vehicle behavior, and the processing by the evaluating means is also carried out on the evaluation object of the determined future vehicle behavior so as to determine a new operation command for the actuator on the basis of at least an evaluation result given by the evaluating means, and

wherein the actuator controlling means comprises;

a reference state determining means for determining a future reference state, the future reference state being a reference state for a predetermined second state amount related to a vehicle motion in the future after the current time, the future reference state determined on the basis of at least the time series of the future drive manipulated variable that has been determined; and

a permissible range setting means for setting a permissible range of the second state amount related to the future vehicle motion on the basis of the determined reference state, wherein the evaluation object in the processing by the evaluating means includes the second state amount, and the restrictive condition includes a condition in which the second state amount falls within the determined permissible range.

44. A vehicle control device comprising:

an operating device with which a driver of a vehicle having a plurality of wheels drives the vehicle;

a drive manipulated variable detecting means which detects a drive manipulated variable expressing an operation state of the operating device by the driver;

an actuator provided in the vehicle so as to permit a motion of the vehicle to be made in response to an operation command;

an actuator controlling means which sequentially determines the operation command to the actuator on the basis of at least the drive manipulated variable and controls the operation of the actuator according to the determined operation command; and

an actual state amount grasping means which detects or estimates an actual state amount, which is a first state amount related to an actual motion of the vehicle,

wherein the actuator controlling means comprises;

a vehicle model which includes at least a friction model showing a relationship between slippage of the wheels and road surface reaction forces acting on the wheels, a dynamic model showing a relationship between motions of the vehicle and the road surface reaction forces, and a model showing the operating characteristics of the actuator;

a vehicle model initializing means which defines at least a first model state amount related to a motion of the vehicle on the vehicle model as a state amount to be initialized, and initializes a value of the state amount to be initialized at a current time or at a predetermined time in the vicinity thereof to a value determined on the basis of at least the actual state amount before the current time;

a future drive manipulated variable determining means which determines a time series of a future drive manipulated variable after the current time on the basis of at least the drive manipulated variable before the current time;

a first future vehicle behavior determining means which determines a future vehicle behavior, which is a future time series after the current time of a set of the operation command to the actuator of the vehicle model, the motion of the vehicle on the vehicle model to which the operation command has been given, a road surface reaction force, and the slippage of wheels, according to a predetermined first control law by using an initialized vehicle model, which is the vehicle model wherein at least the values of the determined time series of the future drive manipulated variable and the state amount to be initialized have been initialized; and

an evaluating means which selects, as an evaluation object, at least one of the motion of the vehicle, a road surface reaction force, and the slippage of wheels in the future vehicle behavior, and evaluates whether the evaluation object satisfies a predetermined restrictive condition,

wherein, when determining the operation command anew, the processing by the vehicle model initializing means, the future drive manipulated variable determining means, and the first future vehicle behavior determining means is carried out to determine the future vehicle behavior, and the processing by the evaluating means is also carried out on the evaluation object of the determined future vehicle behavior so as to determine a new operation command for the actuator on the basis of at least an evaluation result given by the evaluating means, and

wherein

the actuator controlling means comprises;

a first reference state determining means for sequentially determining a reference state before the current time, the reference state before the current time being a reference state up to the current time with respect to a predetermined second state amount related to the vehicle motion, the reference state before the current time determined on the basis of at least the drive manipulated variable detected by the drive manipulated variable detecting means before the current time; and

a second reference state determining means for determining a future reference state, the future reference state being a reference state in the future after the current time with respect to the second reference state, the future reference state determined on the basis of at least a time series of the future drive manipulated variable that has been determined and the determined reference state before the current time, and

the first control law for the first future vehicle behavior determining means to determine the future vehicle behavior is a control law for determining the future vehicle behavior such that, when each value of the time series of an operation command in the future vehicle behavior is input to the initialized vehicle model in a time series manner from the current time side to carry out arithmetic processing of the initialized vehicle model, the second state amount related to the vehicle motion determined by the arithmetic processing approaches the determined future reference state.

45. The vehicle control device according to claim 44, wherein an operation command at arbitrary time k in the future vehicle behavior determined by the first future vehicle behavior determining means is a resultant value of a feedforward component and a feedback component, the first control law for the first future vehicle behavior determining means to determine the future vehicle behavior is a control law which includes processing for determining the feedforward component of the operation command at time k in the future vehicle behavior according to a predetermined first feedforward control law on the basis of at least the value of a drive manipulated variable at time k or time k−

1 in the time series of the determined future drive manipulated variable, processing for determining the feedback component of the operation command at time k in the future vehicle behavior according to a predetermined first feedback control law on the basis of the difference between a value at time k−

1 in a second model state amount related to a vehicle motion on the initialized vehicle model and a value at time k or time k−

1 of the determined future reference state such that the difference is brought close to zero, and processing for combining the feedforward component and the feedback component at time k in the future vehicle behavior to determine an operation command at the time k.

46. The vehicle control device according to claim 45, wherein the feedforward component of the operation command at arbitrary time k in the future vehicle behavior determined by the first future vehicle behavior determining means is constituted of a basic feedforward component and a first auxiliary feedforward component, and the first feedforward control law of the first future vehicle behavior determining means is a control law which includes processing for determining the basic feedforward component of the operation command at arbitrary time k in the future vehicle behavior on the basis of at least a value of a drive manipulated variable at time k or time k−

1 in the time series of the determined future drive manipulated variable, and processing for determining the first auxiliary feedforward component of an operation command at each time of the future vehicle behavior in a predetermined pattern that causes at least the first auxiliary feedforward component at the current time in the future vehicle behavior to approach more to zero than a value of the first auxiliary feedforward component at time immediately preceding the current time at which the actuator controlling means attempts to determine a new operation command or to coincide with zero.

47. The vehicle control device according to claim 46, wherein the first control law of the first future vehicle behavior determining means further includes processing for taking, as a provisional value, each value of the time series of an operation command obtained by combining the feedforward component and the feedback component at time k in the future vehicle behavior and inputting the provisional value in the time series manner from the current time side into the initialized vehicle model and carrying out the arithmetic processing of the initialized vehicle model thereby to determine, as a restriction object, at least one of the road surface reaction force and the slippage of a wheel to be combined with each value of the time series of the operation command into a set, processing for determining whether the determined restriction object deviates from a predetermined permissible range, and processing for determining the provisional value as a value constituting the time series of an operation command in the future vehicle behavior if the restriction object to be combined with the provisional value into a set with respect to each of the provisional values does not deviate from the predetermined permissible range, or for determining each value of an operation command in the future vehicle behavior by correcting the first auxiliary feedforward component in the provisional value according to a predetermined rule such that the restriction object that has deviated falls within or approaches to a state to fall within the predetermined permissible range if the restriction object to be combined with the provisional value into a set deviates from the predetermined permissible range.

48. The vehicle control device according to claim 47, wherein if a difference between the provisional value at the current time of an operation command in a case where an operation command at the current time of the future vehicle behavior determined by the first future vehicle behavior determining means is determined as the new operation command and a new operation command is defined as an error for determining a virtual external force, then the first reference state determining means determines, when determining anew a reference state before the current time, the new reference state before the current time on the basis of at least the drive manipulated variable detected by the drive manipulated variable detecting means and a virtual external force determined on the basis of the error for determining the virtual external force such that the error approaches to zero.

50. The vehicle control device according to claim 45, wherein the second reference state determining means comprises a means for determining a future basic reference state after the current time with respect to the second state amount on the basis of at least the time series of the future drive manipulated variable that has been determined and the determined reference state before the current time, a means for determining a reference correction amount for correcting the basic reference state, and a means for determining the future reference state by correcting the determined basic reference state by the reference correction amount, and

the means for determining the reference correction amount determines, when determining the future vehicle behavior time series by the first future vehicle behavior means, the reference correction amount at each time of the future vehicle behavior according to a predetermined pattern that causes at least the reference correction amount at the current time in the future vehicle behavior to approach more to zero than the value of a reference correction amount at time immediately preceding the current time at which the actuator controlling means attempts to determine a new operation command or to coincide with zero.

51. The vehicle control device according to claim 44, wherein the actual state amount grasping means comprises a means for detecting or estimating the second state amount related to an actual motion of the vehicle, and

the first reference state determining means determines, when determining anew the reference state before the current time, a new reference state before the current time on the basis of at least the drive manipulated variable detected by the drive manipulated variable detecting means and a virtual external force determined on the basis of a difference between a past value of the reference state before the current time and the second state amount that has been detected or estimated such that the difference approaches to zero.