Patent ID: 8914174

Claim:
A vehicle control device for controlling a vehicle drive unit that includes: an input member drivingly connected to an engine; an output member drivingly connected to a wheel; and a transmission device that includes a plurality of engagement elements, that switches between a plurality of shift speeds by control of engagement and disengagement of the plurality of engagement elements, and that transmits a rotational driving force of the input member to the output member at a speed changed at a speed ratio of each of the shift speeds, comprising: a control unit that controls the transmission device so as to achieve a one-way transmission speed in a running idle state in which a vehicle is running while the rotational driving force of the input member is not transmitted to the output member and a rotational speed of the engine is controlled to a predetermined idle speed, wherein the transmission device has, as one of the plurality of shift speeds, the one-way transmission speed at which the rotational driving force from the input member to the output member is transmitted but the rotational driving force from the output member to the input member is not transmitted; wherein the transmission device comprises: a first engagement element that transmits the rotational driving force of the input member to one of a plurality of rotational elements included in the transmission device in an engaged state; and a unidirectional clutch that is placed in a state in which the rotational driving force from the input member to the output member is transmitted but the rotational driving force from the output member to the input member is not transmitted in the state in which the first engagement element is engaged; and wherein the one-way transmission speed is achieved by cooperation between the engagement of the first engagement element and the unidirectional clutch; wherein the control unit achieves the one-way transmission speed by engaging the first engagement element in the running idle state if the shift speed in the transmission device before transitioning to the running idle state is a shift speed achieved by at least the engagement of the first engagement element, and the control unit disengages all of the engagement elements of the transmission device in the running idle state if the shift speed in the transmission device before transitioning to the running idle state is a shift speed other than that achieved by at least the engagement of the first engagement element.