an elevator system including an elevator car , and control apparatus for controlling the speed of the elevator car , including a speed pattern generator . the speed pattern generator provides a running speed pattern and a slowdown speed pattern , and it forces the slowdown speed pattern to match the running speed pattern prior to transfer between the speed patterns , to achieve a stepless transfer therebetween . it also automatically adjusts the deceleration rate of the slowdown speed pattern prior to transfer , such that by maintaining the deceleration rate at its value at the time of transfer , the elevator car will be decelerated at a constant rate , and the slowdown speed pattern will have a predetermined value when the elevator car is at a predetermined location relative to the target floor , enabling stepless transfer at this predetermined location from the slowdown speed pattern to a landing speed pattern which is initialized to the predetermined value .