METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATED CONTROL OF TRANSMISSION RATIO CHANGE

The present invention relates to a method and system for automated control of transmission ratio change which balances the requirements for power with energy efficiency. A plurality of sensors detect environmental conditions of a vehicle. An environmental conditions analysis unit analyzes the environmental conditions to determine whether the detected environmental conditions indicate a likelihood of a transmission ratio increase. When the detected environmental conditions indicate the likelihood of the transmission ratio increase, an automatic transmission changes in operation from a normal state to a prepared state. However, after a predetermined amount of time, the automatic transmission changes from the prepared state back to the normal state when there is no user indication that the transmission ratio should be increased.