Adaptive vehicle control system

A method of comprising:

• determining trip plans including an automatic control trip plan and an expected manual control trip plan based on one or more parameters of a vehicle system, the expected manual control trip plan designating an operational setting of the vehicle system at one or more different locations, different times, or different distances along one or more routes to cause the vehicle system to travel at an upper speed limit of the one or more routes to be traveled by the vehicle system;
• determining a region of a trip where a difference between the fuel consumed by manual control of the vehicle system and fuel consumed by automatic control of the vehicle system is reduced based on the one or more parameters of the vehicle system, wherein the region is determined by determining a reduced fuel consumption plan that designates the operational setting of the vehicle system at the one or more different locations, different times, or different distances along the one or more routes to cause the vehicle system to consume less fuel than the expected manual control trip plan;
• and
• responsive to the one or more of the parameters or the region of the trip that are determined, actuating an alarm to alert an operator of the vehicle system and switching control of the vehicle system from automatic control to manual control.

A vehicle control system comprising:

• one or more processors configured to determine operating parameters of a vehicle system
• and to designate one or more permissible regions for either automatic control or manual control of the vehicle system,
• wherein the one or more processors also are configured to determine an expected manual control trip plan that designates an operational setting of the vehicle system at one or more different locations, different times, or different distances along one or more routes to cause the vehicle system to travel at an upper speed limit of the one or more routes to be traveled by the vehicle system,
• wherein the one or more processors also are configured to determine a reduced fuel consumption plan that designates the operational setting of the vehicle system at the one or more different locations, different times, or different distances along the one or more routes to cause the vehicle system to consume less fuel than the expected manual control trip plan,
• wherein the one or more processors are configured to identify where a speed difference of the vehicle system between traveling according to the expected manual control trip plan and traveling according to the reduced fuel consumption plan is reduced relative to the route;
• wherein the one or more processors also are configured to actuate an alarm to alert an operator of the vehicle system and switch control of the vehicle system from automatic control to manual control based on the operating parameters that are determined,
• wherein the one or more processors also are configured to switch control of the vehicle system from automatic control to manual control responsive to the identification of the speed difference, and
• wherein the one or more processors also are configured to determine route parameters and to switch control of the vehicle system from automatic control to manual control based on the route parameters.