In a steer-by-wire steering system of a motor vehicle including a feedback actuator to simulate a steering feel to a steering device and including an electric motor with a motor shaft connected to a steering shaft to transmit a torque, and a steering lock including a latch connected to the steering shaft in a torsion-resistant manner and a lock to engage with the latch at locking positions to block a rotation of the steering shaft, a method for controlling steering locking of the steer-by-wire steering system includes, if an ignition is switched-off and a movement of the steering device is detected, determining a position of the steering shaft and a distance between the lock and a next locking position of the latch in a direction of the movement of the steering device, and if the distance is greater than a predefined value, transmitting a counter-torque to the steering shaft by the feedback-actuator in a direction opposite direction to the movement of the steering device until the locking position reaches the lock and the lock can engage with the latch.

A steer-by-wire power steering system including a lower-level mechanism that includes a servo motor and a steered wheel, and an upper-level mechanism that includes a steering wheel and an auxiliary motor, the lower-level mechanism being closed-loop controlled, at zero force, by a lower local loop including a feedback branch that measures or estimates an actual downstream force downstream of the servo motor and upstream of the point of contact between the wheel and the ground, so as to make the servo motor transparent, while the upper-level mechanism is closed-loop controlled, at zero torque, by an upper local loop including a feedback branch which measures or estimates an actual driver torque between the auxiliary motor and the steering wheel so as to make the auxiliary motor transparent, the lower and upper local loops being controlled by a single overall controller.

A steering system includes a reaction drive apparatus to apply a reaction force to a steering member, a steering operation drive apparatus to turn steered wheels, a movement drive apparatus to move the steering member between an operation position and a retraction position, a mode switching circuit to switch a manual driving mode and an automatic driving mode, a movement control circuit to move the steering member to the operation position when switched to the manual driving mode, and to move the steering member to the retraction position when switched to the automatic driving mode, a reaction control circuit to control the reaction drive apparatus in the manual driving mode based on steering information of the steering member and steering operation information of the steering operation drive apparatus, and an actuation restriction circuit to restrict actuation of the steering member in the automatic driving mode.

A feedback actuator for a steering device of a motor vehicle may include a steering shaft that is mounted so as to be rotatable about a longitudinal axis extending in a longitudinal direction and that, by way of a belt drive, is coupled to a motor shaft of an electric motor so as to be able to be rotatably driven. The belt drive may have at least one pair of belt pulleys having two belt pulleys that are wrapped by a belt. One of the belt pulleys may be operatively connected to the motor shaft and one may be operatively connected to the steering shaft. The two belt pulleys of the pair of belt pulleys may be disposed so as to be mutually coaxial or at a mutual angle.

A vehicle system includes a steering wheel configured to output an output based on an input from a user, and a controller configured to: determine a target orientation of front wheels of a vehicle based on vehicle environment information, determine whether an orientation of the front wheels of the vehicle based on the output from the steering wheel deviates from the target orientation, disengage the steering wheel from the front wheels in response to determination that the orientation of the front wheels deviates from the target orientation, adjust the orientation of the front wheels to the target orientation and provide a feedback in response to adjusting the orientation of the front wheels to the target orientation.

Disclosed is a steer-by-wire steering apparatus. The steer-by-wire steering apparatus includes a locking portion configured to restrict rotation of a shaft which transfers a steering force or a steering reaction in certain conditions, an actuator which generates torque capable of overcoming a rotation-restricted state of the shaft, and a control portion which determines whether the rotation of the shaft is restricted by a malfunction of the locking portion even though the rotation of the shaft does not correspond to the certain conditions and controls the actuator to generate and provide the torque capable of overcoming the rotation-restricted state of the shaft to the shaft when it is determined that the restriction is caused by the malfunction.

A steer-by-wire steering system for a motor vehicle is proposed, having a steering means which is attached to a steering column, the length and/or inclination of which can be adjusted, and having a steering means actuator which is configured to load the steering means with a torque. The steering means actuator is arranged non-displaceably and fixedly on the vehicle. The steering means actuator is assigned a first shaft, and the steering column is assigned a second shaft, the first and the second shaft having a variable axial offset and/or a variable angular offset at least over a part range of a length and/or inclination adjustment of the steering column. The first and second shafts are connected in a torque-transmitting manner via a compensation device which can compensate for a change in the axial offset and/or the angular offset.

A turning control system includes a controller. The controller is configured to perform a decrease process of decreasing a magnitude of an angle operation amount which is reflected in an operation process with respect to the magnitude of the angle operation amount calculated in an angle operation amount calculating process when a vehicle speed is equal to or lower than a prescribed speed and a magnitude of an input torque of a steering wheel is equal to or less than a prescribed value. The controller is configured to perform a correction process of correcting an input when the decrease process is performed such that a magnitude of the input decreases when an angle command value calculating process calculates an angle command value.

Described herein are steer-by-wire systems and methods of operating these systems in vehicles. A steer-by-wire system comprises a steering wheel assembly, comprising a steering wheel, sensors, and a torque generator. The system comprises a rack assembly, comprising a steering rack, sensors, and a rack actuator. The steering wheel assembly and the rack assembly are communicatively coupled by a steer-by-wire system controller, without having any direct mechanical links between the assemblies. In some examples, the controller instructs the rack assembly to control the steering rack position based on the steering input, such as changes in the steering wheel position. A steering map is used to determine the desired steering rack position based on the current steering wheel position. In some examples, a steering map is selected from a steering map set based on, e.g., the vehicle speed, vehicle direction, driver preference, and the like.

According to the present embodiments, torque caused by friction when a steering shaft rotates is applied so as to provide weight to the operation of a steering wheel by a driver, and the steering shaft is restricted from rotating in certain situations in which wheels can no longer rotate, such as when the wheels are caught on a curb, thereby enabling the steerability and steering stability of the driver to be improved.