Provided is an apparatus and method for detecting steering information in which a plurality of torque sensors and sensors for sensing a rotation angle of a steering shaft are provided and thus it is possible to calculate steering information, such as a steering torque, a steering angle, etc., even upon occurrence of failure in some sensors. A plurality of torque sensors and absolute angle sensors (rotation angle sensors) are provided, and after it is determined whether an output value of each sensor is synchronized, a torque and a steering angle are calculated accordingly. Therefore, even upon occurrence of failure in some sensors, it is possible to calculate a torque and a steering angle normally, and thus steering control is possible.

Embodiments of the disclosure disclose a method and an apparatus for calibrating a vehicle control parameter, an on-board controller, and an autonomous vehicle; one embodiment of the method comprises: executing a calibrating step in response to reaching a preset update condition, the calibrating step comprises: obtaining a current offset data set, wherein the current offset data in the current offset data set are determined in a period of time including a current time point; determining a current offset data reference value for characterizing a value feature of the current offset data set; and performing offset correction for the vehicle control parameter based on an offset between the current offset data reference value and a historical offset data reference value. This embodiment implements autonomous calibration of the vehicle parameter based on changes of vehicle offset, such that the vehicle may accurately follow a corresponding control indicator.

Embodiments discussed herein enable detection of traction steer using measured and expected values of steering system data, such as, for example and without limitation, motor current, motor torque, motor position, motor velocity, steering wheel angle, and steering column torque. In some embodiments, the measured steering system data is compared to expected signal values, based on vehicle operating conditions, to determine if the vehicle is experiencing a traction steer event. In some embodiments, using known relationships between two or more steering system signals, a traction steer event is identified if an unexpected relationship is determined.

A method for performing operations onboard a vehicle is provided. The method obtains a steering calibration command, by a computing device communicatively coupled to a steering mechanism for the vehicle; initiates execution of the steering calibration command, by the computing device via the steering mechanism; determines at least one maximum steering angle of the vehicle, based on execution of the steering calibration command, the at least one maximum steering angle being associated with a maximum potential position of the steering mechanism; identifies a zero-position center of the steering mechanism, based on the at least one maximum steering angle of the vehicle; stores the zero-position center and the at least one maximum steering angle, by the computing device, for future use; and broadcasts the zero-position center and the at least one maximum steering angle, via a Controller Area Network (CAN) bus of the vehicle, by the communication device.

An assembly for plausibility checking and/or reinitializing a rear wheel steering system of a vehicle having a rear wheel steering unit, which includes at least one rear wheel actuator for adjusting a rear-wheel steering angle and a sensor for detecting the set position of the rear wheel actuator, with at least one reference sensor for detecting a reference signal and with an electronic control unit for carrying out the plausibility check and/or reinitialization of the sensor. The reference sensor is part of a vehicle unit different from the rear wheel steering unit and is designed to detect a vehicle-status-dependent reference signal. Furthermore, the control unit includes at least one mathematical model which, based on the vehicle-status-dependent reference signal, can determine a reference value and/or a reference vehicle status, with which the plausibility check and/or reinitialization can be carried out by the control unit.

An ECU includes plural sensor units and plural control units. The sensor units include magnetic field detection elements for detecting a rotation of a motor, and output mechanical angles related to the rotation angle in one rotation and count values related to the number of rotations of the motor, respectively. One rotation of the motor is divided into indefinite regions, in which detection deviation of the count values may occur, and definite regions, in which no detection deviation occurs. The definite region of the count value is set to deviate from the definite region of the other count value. Absolute angle calculation units calculate the absolute angles using the count values of the definite regions.

A method for determining a neutral position of a MDPS (Motor Driven Power Steering) system may include: determining, by a controller, whether a vehicle is driving; determining, by the controller, whether a steering torque is smaller than a preset break point on a boost curve, when the vehicle is driving; and determining, by the controller, that the vehicle is in a neutral state, when the steering torque is smaller than the preset break point on the boost curve.

A steering angle calculation circuit of an ECU includes a neutral point calculation circuit, a correction amount calculation circuit, an adder, and an absolute angle calculation circuit. When started, the neutral point calculation circuit calculates a motor neutral point from a steering angle detected through a steering sensor and a motor rotation angle detected through a relative angle sensor. The correction amount calculation circuit calculates a correction angle that is a difference between a conversion value and an actual value of the motor rotation angle with respect to the steering angle. The conversion value is obtained by converting the steering angle in terms of the motor rotation angle by taking into account a theoretical specific stroke. The adder calculates a final motor neutral point by adding the correction angle calculated by the correction amount calculation circuit to the motor neutral point calculated by the neutral point calculation circuit.

An electric power steering apparatus that drives and controls a motor which applies an assist orque to a steering system of a vehicle and has a function switching between an assist mode and an automatic mode, including a torsion bar torsional angle calculating section to calculate a torsion bar torsional angle based on a torque information, an output-side column shaft relative angle generating section to output an output-side relative angle from an electrical angle signal of the motor, an actual handle angle calculating section to calculate an actual handle angle based on the torsion bar torsional angle and the output-side relative angle, a resonance filter to obtain an estimated handle angle in a hands-off state from the output-side relative angle, and a hands-on/off judging section to judge a hands-on state when a time that a deviation angle between the actual handle angle and the estimated handle angle is equal to or more than a predetermined angle is continued for the predetermined time or more.

A steering control device includes an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit is configured to perform end contact relaxation control for correcting a current command value such that a decrease of an end separation angle indicating a distance of an absolute steering angle from an end-position-corresponding angle is limited when the end separation angle is equal to or less than a predetermined angle and to perform partial release control for decreasing a correction value of the current command value due to execution of the end contact relaxation control based on a steering torque which is input to a steering system when a vehicle is intended to travel while turning at the time of execution of the end contact relaxation control.