Patent ID: 8393998

Claim:
A vehicle control apparatus comprising: an electric motor configured to output a 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 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 calculating a corrected point of the control setpoint based on a change of the actual value of the output torque of the electric motor with respect to the reduction of the control setpoint by the first operation; a third operation of setting the control setpoint to a precharge point after the first operation, wherein the precharge point is higher than the corrected point; and a fourth operation of setting the control setpoint to the corrected point after the third operation.