Experimental Verification of Active Front Steering Based on Driver-Friendly Reaction Torque Control

SUMMARY In recent years the demand for safer vehicles has increased. Active front steering (AFS) is an effective technology for stabilizing motion control after the detection of dangerous motion in a vehicle such as slip. However, if AFS intervenes excessively during the steering process, it becomes difficult to prevent interference between driver steering and AFS automatic steering. Therefore, at present vehicles are rarely equipped with AFS. This paper proposes a steering torque control method based on reaction torque estimation and variable damping control for use in a human-friendly AFS system and discusses how an experimental device was used to verify the effectiveness of this control method.