Control apparatus for automatic transmission for vehicle

A control apparatus for an automatic transmission for a vehicle, comprising:

• operational condition detecting means for detecting a vehicle operational condition including at least a vehicle speed and an engine load;
• slope detecting means for detecting a road surface slope;
• shift characteristic selecting means for selecting one of a plurality of shift characteristics preliminarily set according to said road surface slope;
• acceleration/deceleration calculating means for calculating an acceleration or deceleration from the degree of increase or decrease in vehicle speed per unit time;
• a deceleration shift characteristic for deciding a gear position according to said deceleration and said vehicle speed;
• and
• brake detecting means for detecting a brake operation;
• wherein when said road surface slope is determined to be a downhill slope by said slope detecting means and said brake operation is detected by said brake detecting means, said selected shift characteristic is changed to said deceleration shift characteristic and said gear position is decided according to said deceleration shift characteristic.