Lawn tractor with electronic drive and control system

A lawn tractor, comprising:

• a frame on which an internal combustion engine is mounted;
• a CAN-Bus network operable to communicate signals to and from one or more components of the lawn tractor;
• a vehicle control module comprising a processor and memory and operable to receive a plurality of analog input signals and a plurality of digital input signals from one or more components of the lawn tractor and to transmit digital output signals via the CAN-Bus network to one or more components of the lawn tractor,
• first and second drive systems comprising
• (a) first and second traction wheels disposed on opposing sides of the frame;
• (b) first and second hydrostatic transaxles comprising first and second output axles connected to the respective first and second traction wheels;
• (c) first and second electric actuators with integrated first and second electronic drive modules mounted to the respective first and second hydrostatic transaxles for controlling an output speed and direction of motion of the first and second hydrostatic transaxles;
• first and second steering and drive control levers for receiving user input regarding desired speed and direction of motion of the lawn tractor;
• first and second steering lever sensor modules connected to the respective first and second steering and drive control levers for detecting position, speed and direction of motion of the first and second steering and drive control levers and operable to post on the CAN-Bus network first and second lever signals corresponding to the position, speed and direction of motion of the respective first and second steering and drive control levers;
• wherein the vehicle control module is configured to process the first and second lever signals and post on the CAN-Bus network first and second digital drive signals configured to obtain the desired speed and direction of motion of the lawn tractor,
• wherein the first and second electronic drive modules are configured to process the first and second digital drive signals and convert the first and second digital drive signals to appropriate first and second actuator signals to drive the first and second electric actuators to obtain the desired speed and direction of motion of the lawn tractor.