A vehicle control apparatus, comprising:
- a controller that controls a vehicle including a front left wheel, a front right wheel, a rear left wheel and a rear right wheel, wherein the controller is configured to:
- execute a turn assist control that varies rear wheel braking/driving forces based on a yaw rate of the vehicle while the vehicle makes a turn by a yaw moment acting the vehicle corresponding to a steering operation of the vehicle, wherein the rear wheel braking/driving forces generate a vehicle additional yaw moment that acts the vehicle in a same direction with the yaw moment acting the vehicle corresponding to the steering operation of the vehicle, wherein the rear wheel braking/driving forces are generated by only the rear left wheel and the rear right wheel among the front left wheel, the front right wheel, the rear left wheel and the rear right wheel, and wherein the front left wheel and the front right wheel are braked/driven at front wheel braking/driving forces;
- determine whether the vehicle has a spin tendency or not;
- acquire a rotation rate of the front left wheel and a rotation rate of the front right wheel;
- acquire a first vehicle slip angle of the vehicle that is determined based on first information obtained from one or more sensors related to a velocity of the vehicle;
- acquire a second vehicle slip angle of the vehicle that is determined from a vehicle model of the vehicle;
- and
- determine the vehicle additional yaw moment based on a target yaw rate and an actual yaw rate, wherein the target yaw rate indicates a yaw rate calculated based on a steering wheel angle of the vehicle and a speed of the vehicle, and the actual yaw rate indicates a yaw rate detected by a sensor equipped in the vehicle;
- determine a first synchronization torque based on a first difference value that indicates a difference between the rotation rate of the front left wheel and the rotation rate of the front right wheel to decrease the first difference value;
- and
- execute, responsive to determining that the vehicle has the spin tendency while executing the turn assist control, a wheel braking/driving force control, wherein the wheel braking/driving force control includes:
- decreasing the vehicle additional yaw moment;
- determining corrected rear wheel braking/driving forces based on the decreased vehicle additional yaw moment;
- determining a second synchronization torque by varying the first synchronization torque based on a second difference value so that the first difference value is decreased in accordance with an increase of the second difference value, wherein the second difference value indicates a difference between the first vehicle slip angle and the second vehicle slip angle;
- determining corrected front wheel braking/driving forces based on the second synchronization torque;
- braking/driving the rear left wheel and the rear right wheel based on the corrected rear wheel braking/driving forces;
- and
- braking/driving the front left wheel and the front right wheel based on the corrected front wheel braking/driving forces.