The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
A vehicle may include an internal combustion engine and/or one or more electric motors that generate torque. A transmission selectively transfers torque to one or more wheels of the vehicle. An engine control module (ECM) controls operation of the engine. The ECM or another control module, such as a motor control module, may control an electric motor. A transmission control module (TCM) controls the transmission. The vehicle may also include one or more other control modules, such as a chassis control module, etc.
The control modules may communicate with one another via a network that can be referred to as a car area network (CAN). The control modules may communicate, for example, to share data. One or more of the control modules may make a decision and/or take action based on the shared data.
The vehicle also includes a communications module that is connected to the car area network. The communications module may also selectively establish a connection to a remote server. The communications module may update one or more of the control modules based on data from the remote server. The communications module may selectively output one or more vehicle parameters to the remote server.