Patent ID: 7899584

Claim:
A method of controlling a vehicle, comprising: determining an operation assigned to the vehicle along at least one segment of a route assigned to the vehicle; determining at least one control parameter of the vehicle based on at least one operation characteristic, the at least one operation characteristic relating to the operation assigned to the vehicle and wherein the at least one operation characteristic includes at least one route characteristic of the assigned route, the at least one route characteristic relating to at least one of location, road grade, total effective grade, and moisture of the assigned route, the at least one control parameter being determined before operating the vehicle on the assigned route; storing the at least one route characteristic in memory of an off-board computer system, the at least one control parameter being determined using the off-board computer system; transmitting the at least one control parameter to the vehicle; and operating the vehicle to execute the operation assigned to the vehicle, including implementing the at least one control parameter.