Patent ID: 8521379

Claim:
A method of operating a vehicle in either a freewheel mode or a rolling mode for saving fuel, the vehicle having a drive train comprising a controllable drive engine, either an automatic or an automated transmission, and a controllable shift means for interrupting a flow of power in the drive train, the method comprising the steps of: one of prognostically activating, deactivating, and retaining either a freewheel mode or a rolling mode by performing a plausibility check of at least one of a currently active, an automatic driving speed control function, a currently active automatic driving speed and distance control function, a driving operation, and a driving state data; coordinating and adapting relevant marginal conditions of the at least one of either the active driving speed control function or the driving speed and distance control function, and of either the freewheel mode or the rolling mode depending upon a driving situation; and initiating control measures of the drive train by a transmission control.