Patent ID: 8798887

Claim:
A method for estimating a vehicle mass, comprising the steps of: (a) when a vehicle is under the control of an autonomous acceleration event during which vehicle acceleration is expected to be controlled and consistent, determining an expected acceleration of the vehicle for the autonomous acceleration event wherein the expected acceleration corresponds to vehicle propulsion in a longitudinal direction; (b) determining an actual acceleration of the vehicle during the autonomous acceleration event wherein the actual acceleration corresponds to vehicle propulsion in the longitudinal direction; (c) comparing the expected acceleration of the vehicle in the longitudinal direction for the autonomous acceleration event to the actual acceleration of the vehicle in the longitudinal direction during the autonomous acceleration event with a control module, and (d) using the comparison of the expected acceleration of the vehicle in the longitudinal direction for the autonomous acceleration event to the actual acceleration of the vehicle in the longitudinal direction during the autonomous acceleration event to determine a vehicle mass estimate with the control module.