Electronic control unit

An electronic control unit used in a vehicle having a high voltage battery and an inverter that drives a vehicle travel-power motor for a travel of a vehicle, an electrical connection between the high voltage battery and the inverter switchable to be connected in a conductive state and disconnected in an interrupted state via a relay unit, the electronic control unit comprising:

• a first relay in the relay unit being kept in a conductive state while the vehicle is traveling;
• a second relay in the relay unit put in the conductive state when a start switch of the vehicle is switched ON, for flowing an electric current between the high voltage battery and the inverter, an amount of the electric current flowing via the second relay being restricted to-be lower than an amount of the electric current flowing in the conductive state of the first relay;
• a first calculator
• (a) configured to enable a travel of the vehicle by outputting an inverter control signal to the inverter for driving the vehicle travel-power motor, and
• (b) configured to control the first and second relays to
• (i) put the second relay in the conductive state when the start switch of the vehicle is switched ON at a startup time, and thereafter
• (ii) put the first relay in the conductive state in place of the second relay and maintain the conductive state of the first relay;
• and
• a second calculator provided independently from the first calculator, configured to output the inverter control signal to the inverter when the first calculator is abnormal, and control the first relay to be kept in the conductive state, wherein:
• the second calculator maintains the conductive state of the first relay even after switching OFF of the start switch when the start switch of the vehicle is switched OFF and a travel continuation condition is fulfilled, and switches the first relay to the interrupted state when the travel continuation condition is not fulfilled,
• the travel continuation condition is fulfilled when each travel continuation enabling requirement is satisfied, and the travel continuation condition is unfulfilled when any travel continuation enabling requirement is not satisfied,
• the travel continuation condition includes criteria in which travel of the vehicle is continuable by the vehicle travel-power motor under the inverter control performed by the second calculator, and
• the second calculator is configured to perform an inverter control resulting in a fallback travel of the vehicle that is a movement of the vehicle to a safe area as determined by one or more of at least one vehicle sensor, a map database, and a Global Positioning System (GPS), the fallback travel being more limited than a normal travel of the vehicle.