Patent ID: 6937930

Claim:
An apparatus for controlling a vehicle having an engine including a throttle having a throttle position sensor, the throttle being adjustable to vary the speed of the vehicle, a transmission having an input shaft, an output shaft, and drive means there between providing a variable drive ratio, and a transmission controller for controlling the drive ratio between said input and output shafts, and at least one axle in driving connection with the output shaft of the said transmission; wherein the controller comprises a selector operable to select between first and second modes of operation, in said first mode the throttle and transmission are operated individually by the operator; and in said second mode, operation of the throttle and transmission is interconnected and performed by means of a computer program which includes an algorithm including the following steps: i) check that the throttle is closed; ii) if the throttle is closed enter a calibration mode; iii) run a calibration test to calibrate throttle pedal positions corresponding to low and high engine idle speeds; iv) store the respective output values of the throttle position sensor corresponding to the low and high engine idle speeds; v) in use compare a signal representative of the theoretical forward speed generated by the output from the throttle position sensor with a signal representative of the actual forward speed of the vehicle to establish the load on the engine, and generate an output signal representative of engine load, vi) send signal to the transmission controller to adjust the transmission ratio to match forward speed to theoretical speed, thereby reducing the engine load.