Patent ID: 8579759

Claim:
A vehicle control apparatus comprising: an electric motor configured to output an output torque for driving a vehicle; a clutch including an electric motor side element and a driving wheel side element, wherein the electric motor side element is connected to the electric motor and the driving wheel side element is connected to a driving wheel of the vehicle, wherein the clutch is configured to set, according to hydraulic pressure, a transmitted torque capacity for torque transmission between the electric motor side element and the driving wheel side element, and wherein the hydraulic pressure is regulated to a control setpoint; and a controller configured to set the control setpoint, wherein the controller is further configured to: implement a drive mode by allowing slippage between the electric motor side element and the driving wheel side element of the clutch and controlling rotational speed of the electric motor in a manner that the electric motor side element of the clutch rotates faster by a controlled difference than the driving wheel side element of the clutch; determine whether the vehicle is stationary; obtain an actual value of the output torque of the electric motor; and perform a procedure in response to a determination that the vehicle is stationary when in the drive mode, wherein the procedure includes: a first operation of reducing the control setpoint from an initial point; a second operation of identifying a reference point of the control setpoint, wherein with the control setpoint set to the reference point, the actual value of the output torque of the electric motor is substantially constant with respect to the reduction of the control setpoint; and a third operation of setting the control setpoint to a corrected point in response to the identification of the reference point, wherein the corrected point is lower than or substantially equal to the initial point and higher than the reference point.