A steering system includes an actuator, a steering wheel that generates inputs for the actuator in a manual steer-by-wire control state, and a controller that determines operating conditions for the actuator, the steering wheel, or both. The controller determines blended steering angles based on manual steering angles of the steering wheel and automatic steering angles associated with an automated steer-by-wire control state. The controller transitions operation of the steering system from the manual steer-by-wire control state to the automated steer-by-wire control state when all operating conditions are satisfied and uses a blending function that applies weighting values to the manual steering angles and the automated steering angles to determine the blended steering angles. The controller controls the actuator using the blended steering angles.

An apparatus for controlling an MDPS system may include: a column torque sensor configured to sense column torque applied to a steering column of a vehicle; a vehicle velocity sensor configured to sense vehicle velocity of the vehicle; an MDPS basic logic unit configured to decide a first assist command current for driving an MDPS motor in a manual driving mode of a driver; an autonomous driving control unit configured to decide a second assist command current for driving the MDPS motor in an autonomous driving mode of the vehicle; and a mode switching control unit configured to decide a weight into which the driver's steering intention is reflected, and apply the decided weight to the first and second assist command currents to decide a final assist command current for driving the MDPS motor when the vehicle is switched from the autonomous driving mode to the manual driving mode.

An electric steering apparatus may include: a column torque sensor configured to detect column torque; a vehicle speed sensor configured to detect vehicle speed of the vehicle; an autonomous driving control unit configured to determine a second command current in an autonomous driving mode; a driver steering intervention determination unit configured to determine whether a driver intervenes in steering; an MDPS logic unit configured to determine a first command current based on the column torque and the vehicle speed, when the driver's steering intervention occurs in the autonomous driving mode; and an output control unit configured to determine a final weight based on a steering angular velocity and the column torque, when the driver's steering intervention occurs in the autonomous driving mode, and determine a final command current by applying the determined final weight to the first and second command currents.

A computer includes a processor and a memory storing instructions executable by the processor to input steering torque data and steering wheel angle data to a machine learning program trained to output a status of a hand of an occupant relative to a steering wheel, the status being one of (1) the hand is on the steering wheel, (2) the hand is off the steering wheel and no weight is applied to the steering wheel, or (3) the hand is off the steering wheel and a weight is applied to the steering wheel, and actuate a steering subsystem when the output of the machine learning program indicates that the hand of the occupant is off the steering wheel.

A computer-implemented method, system, and/or computer program product controls a driving mode of a self-driving vehicle (SDV). One or more processors compare a control processor competence level of an on-board SDV control processor in controlling the SDV to a human driver competence level of a human driver in controlling the SDV while the SDV encounters a current roadway condition which is a result of current weather conditions of the roadway on which the SDV is currently traveling. One or more processors then selectively assign control of the SDV to the SDV control processor or to the human driver while the SDV encounters the current roadway condition based on which of the control processor competence level and the human driver competence level is relatively higher to one another.

A control apparatus is applicable to a drive system that measures a user's manipulated parameter, and drives a driving unit constituting a mobility device in accordance with a driving quantity determined based on the user's manipulated parameter. The user's manipulated parameter includes at least one of a user's manipulated variable and a user's manipulated setting. In the control apparatus, a storage unit stores at least one mobility parameter that enables the driving quantity to be determined based on the user's manipulated parameter. A parameter acquiring unit acquires parameter information inputted by a user. The parameter information includes at least one of (i) a user's selected at least one mobility parameter and (ii) information related to the user's selected at least one mobility parameter. In the control apparatus, an updating unit updates, based on the parameter information, the at least one mobility parameter stored in the storage unit.

An ECU including a control circuit is provided to control driving of a motor, which outputs at least a part of torque required for steering a vehicle. The control circuit is configured to switch control modes including an ADS mode for controlling driving of the motor based on an angle command value and an EPS mode for controlling the driving of the motor based on a basic assist command value which is a torque command value. The control circuit is configured to change the calculation cycle period of at least a part of the calculations related to the driving control of the motor according to the selected control mode. Accordingly, an appropriate calculation cycle period can be set for each calculation related to the driving control of the motor according to the control mode, and the calculation load can be reduced.

An autonomous driving system configured to perform an autonomous driving of a vehicle includes a lane change determination unit configured to determine a necessity of an operation intervention for a lane change of the vehicle by a driver of the vehicle during the autonomous driving, a lane change request unit configured to request the driver to perform the operation intervention for the lane change of the vehicle when the lane change determination unit determines that it is necessary to perform the operation intervention for the lane change of the vehicle by the driver, and a mode switching unit configured to switch a steering torque mode for a lane keep control in the autonomous driving from a normal steering torque mode to a weak steering torque mode when the driver is requested to perform the operation intervention for the lane change of the vehicle.

Provided is a control apparatus for a vehicle configured to perform steering assist control and driving support control based on a motor control amount, the control apparatus being further configured to correct the motor control amount such that a specific steering amount in a second period becomes smaller than that in a first period, the specific steering amount being an amount of change in a steering angle required for a magnitude of a steering torque to reach a torque threshold, the first period being a period from a first time point at which a driving support operation state is changed to an on state to a second time point at which a driving operation switching request is issued, and the second period being a period from the second time point to a third time point at which the driving support operation state is changed to an off state.

An apparatus for controlling an motor-driven power steering (MDPS) may include: a driving information input unit configured to receive driving information; a steering angle position control unit configured to receive a command steering angle and a current motor steering angle of a driving motor, and output an autonomous driving command; and an MDPS control unit configured to drive the driving motor based on the autonomous driving command in an autonomous driving mode, determine whether a driver intervenes in steering, calculate a driver command by the driver's steering according to whether the driver intervenes in steering, and change an operation mode from the autonomous driving mode to a driver mode while driving the driving motor with a compensation output between the driver command and the autonomous driving command.