The vehicle characteristics of two vehicles have been changed by various means. Steering control quality has then been investigated with the help of lane change maneuvers. The investigation comprises both theoretical analyses and experimental tests. The tests comprise measuring of vehicle characteristics, subjective rating of steering control quality, and measuring of performance of the system driver-vehicle, regarding the ability to follow a predicted course. Results have shown that there is a strong relationship between yaw velocity response time, steering wheel angle gradient, steering wheel torque gradient and subjective rating. The results also show that yaw velocity response time greatly influences steering control quality in transient steering maneuvers, with relatively high lateral acceleration.
Abstract