A method for control of a rear-axle steering of a motor vehicle. A steering angle of wheels of a rear axle is set. Upon reaching a predetermined lateral acceleration of the motor vehicle, the steering angle and/or the gradient of the steering angle of the wheels of the rear axle is limited as a function of a coefficient of friction of a roadway surface on which the motor vehicle is moving.

A method and a device for obtaining data relating to road conditions for vehicles with a steering motor or motors, wherein the power consumption of the steering motor or motors is measured during vehicle operation, and the power consumption data are transmitted to a driver assistance system and/or stored on a storage medium.

A control system for a steering system of a vehicle, the control system comprising: a processing module configured to obtain an indication of a proximity of a road wheel of the vehicle to a limit of adhesion, and to generate a driver feedback signal in the event that the road wheel is at or beyond the limit of adhesion; and an output arranged to issue the driver feedback signal.

A vehicle traveling control apparatus includes a setter, a detector, and a determiner. The setter sets a lane-change route through which an own vehicle change lanes from a current target route to an adjacent lane. The detector detects a road surface pattern by irregularities on a road to which a lane change is to be made. The determiner determines whether the own vehicle interferes with the road surface pattern, and instructs correction of the set lane-change route based on a result of the determination. When there is not the interference, the determiner permits the lane change through the lane-change route. When there is the interference, the determiner instructs the setter to correct the lane-change route. The determiner permits the lane change through the corrected lane-change route when there is not the interference on the corrected lane-change route, and prohibits or cancels the lane change when there is still the interference.

A vehicle attitude control device includes: a vehicle speed detector, detecting a vehicle speed; a travel road surface condition estimator, estimating a road friction coefficient; an actual yaw rate detector, detecting an actual yaw rate; a front wheel steering angle detector, detecting a front wheel steering angle; a standard yaw rate calculator, setting a rear wheel sideslip angle limit value, calculating a front wheel steering angle limit value according to the vehicle speed, the road friction coefficient and the rear wheel sideslip angle limit value, and calculating a standard yaw rate based on the front wheel steering angle and the vehicle speed, in which the front wheel steering angle is limited by the front wheel steering angle limit value; and a yaw moment calculator, generating a yaw moment based on a deviation between the actual yaw rate and the standard yaw rate.

A system for determining driver torque includes a rack torque estimator module that determines an estimated rack torque value based on a motor angle, and a motor velocity. The system further includes a driver intent detection module that computes a disturbance torque scaling factor based on the estimated rack torque value. The system further includes a blend module that generates a motor torque assist command based on a scaled value of the estimated rack torque value using the disturbance torque scaling factor.

A method of controlling an electric power steering system is provided. The method estimates steering rack force to be caused by a tire and a surface of a ground with which the tire is in contact in response to determining that one or more hand wheel torque sensors are not enabled. The method generates a steering assist torque command based on the estimated steering rack force. The method controls the electric power steering system using the steering assist torque command.

An object is to provide an attitude control system that can suppress an understeering characteristic when a vehicle such as an automobile travels in a medium-speed or low-speed range. A vehicle drives front wheels, and controls steering angles of the front wheels and steering angles of rear wheels. In an attitude control system to be mounted on the vehicle, a control amount detecting unit detects an operation amount of an accelerator pedal operated by a driver of the vehicle. A driving force estimating unit estimates a driving force generated on the front wheels based on the operation amount of the accelerator pedal. A rear-wheel steering angle determining unit determines a rear-wheel steering angle instruction value for controlling steering angles of the rear wheels based on an estimated front-wheel driving force that is the driving force estimated by the driving force estimating unit.

Systems and methods for independently estimating a road surface friction coefficient value and a vehicular lateral velocity value are provided. In one example, the system includes: a self-aligning torque coefficient estimating module configured to obtain sensor signals from an electronic power steering (EPS) system and an inertial measurement unit and estimate a first self-aligning torque coefficient value based on the sensor signals using a recursive least square algorithm; a road surface friction coefficient value estimating module configured to obtain the estimated first self-aligning torque coefficient value and estimate a first road surface friction coefficient value based on the estimated first self-aligning torque coefficient value; and a feature control module configured to generate one or more control signals configured to control features of a vehicle based on the estimated first road surface friction coefficient value.

A steering control device (30) for a vehicle, the steering control device controlling a steering device, the steering device having a steering mechanism (10) configured to steer wheels (15) and a driving device (40) configured to provide the steering mechanism (10) with steering force for the wheels (15), the steering control device configured to; detect turning of the wheels (15); determine whether the vehicle is in a stationary steering state; and increase, when the vehicle is determined to be in a stationary steering state as a result of determination whether the vehicle is in a stationary steering state, the steering force to be provided to the steering mechanism (10) than a value upon determination that the vehicle is not in a stationary steering state, wherein the steering control device (30) is further configured to decrease the steering force to be provided to the steering mechanism (10) than before when the turning of the wheels (15) is detected as a result of providing the steering force with the steering mechanism (10) when the vehicle has been determined to be in a stationary steering state.