Patent ID: 8630767

Claim:
A method of estimating the current load of a vehicle, comprising: defining at least two weight classes; providing a filter bank including, for each of the at least two weight classes, a filter, each filter implementing a vehicle model for estimating the current mass of the vehicle; supplying, to each filter, at least one vehicle data indicative of a current driving situation of the vehicle, and at least one current filter parameter specific for the respective weight class; determining, by means of each filter, a load estimation value as filter specific estimation of the current load of the vehicle; determining, by a processor, for each load estimation value, a current indication whether it can be assumed that the current load of the vehicle belongs to the respective weight class; and selecting, by a processor, among all load estimation values, the load estimation value having the best current indication as estimation of the current load of the vehicle for the current driving situation and/or weighing the current indications for the weight classes to obtain an overall load estimation value for the filter bank, wherein the overall load estimation value is used as load estimation for the current load of the vehicle for the current driving situation.