INTRODUCTION The motivation for undertaking a new eight speed automatic transmission is to improve vehicle efficiency, performance, and overall customer driving experience. Extra ratios allow for better matching of road load to engine torque during key operating conditions.The success of the General Motors six speed rear wheel drive family has proven a difficult act to follow. Nevertheless, the new GM eight speed takes advantage of opportunities left unclaimed by the six speed design and delivers many benefits in the same package size.General Motors Rear Wheel Drive Eight Speed Automatic Transmission James Michael Hart General Motors Co. ABSTRACT General Motors shall introduce a new rear wheel drive eight speed automatic transmission, known as the 8L90, in the 2015 Chevrolet Corvette. The rated turbine torque capacity is 1000 Nm. This transmission replaces the venerable 6L80 six speed automatic. The objectives behind creation of this transmission are improved fuel economy, performance, and NVH. Packaging in the existing vehicle architecture and high mileage dependability are the givens. The architecture is required to offer low cost for a rear drive eight speed transmission while meeting the givens and objectives. An eight speed powerflow, invented by General Motors, was selected. This powerflow yields a 7.0 overall ratio spread, enabling improved launch capability because of a deeper first gear ratio and better fuel economy due to lower top gear N/V capability, relative to the 6L80. The eight speed ratios are generated using four simple planetary gearsets, two brake clutches, and three rotating clutches. The resultant on-axis transmission architecture utilizes a squashed torque converter, an off-axis pump and four close coupled gearsets. The three rotating clutches have been located forward of the gearsets to minimize the length of oil feeds which provides for enhanced shift response and simplicity of turbine shaft manufacturing. The transmission architecture features a case with integral bell housing for enhanced powertrain stiffness. A unique pump drive design allows for off-axis packaging very low in the transmission. The pump is a binary vane type which effectively allows for two pumps in the packaging size of one. This design and packaging strategy not only enables low parasitic losses and optimum priming capability but also provides for ideal oil routing to the controls system, with the pump located in the valve body itself. The transmission controller is externally mounted, enabling packaging and powertrain integration flexibilities. The controller makes use of three speed sensors which provide for enhanced shift response and accuracy. Utilization of aluminum and magnesium components throughout the transmission yields competitive mass. The dedicated compensator feed circuit, used in GM six speed designs, has been supplanted by a lube-fed design in order to simplify oil routing and enhance shift response. Packaging is within that of the GM 6L80 design, allowing for ease of application integration. The overall result is a robust, compact, and cost effective transmission which offers significant fuel economy and performance benefit, over its six speed counterpart, and shall provide an attractive balance of overall metrics in the automatic transmission market. CITATION: Hart, J., "General Motors Rear Wheel Drive Eight Speed Automatic Transmission," SAE Int. J. Passeng. Cars - Mech. Syst. 7(1):2014, doi:10.4271/2014-01-1721.2014-01-1721 Published 04/01/2014 Copyright © 2014 SAE International doi:10.4271/2014-01-1721 saepcmech.saejournals.org 289POWERFLOW SELECTION STRATEGY In order to deliver an eight speed transmission in the same package as the current six speed, the kinematic content must be kept to an absolute minimum. Total kinematic content can be described as the number of torque transmitting devices plus the number of planetary gearsets. Based on this definition, the incumbent GM s