Patent attributes
A vehicle system includes a head vehicle and a tail vehicle that is towed by the head vehicle. Together the head vehicle and tail vehicle have a control subsystem for controlling among other things braking of the tail vehicle. The control subsystem includes a head unit in the head vehicle and a tail unit in the tail vehicle. The head unit further includes a head Inertial Measurement Unit (“IMU”) for measuring orientation and acceleration of the head vehicle, and the tail unit includes a tail IMU for measuring orientation and acceleration of the tail vehicle. With the IMUs, the control subsystem is able to determine relative pitch and orientation of the head vehicle and tail vehicle to control braking and reduce the risk of jackknifing. The tail unit further has wheel speed sensors and a Tire-Pressure Monitoring System (“TPMS”) for sensing wheel speed.
