A New Objective Evaluation Method for Vehicle Steering Comfort

Abstract

Vehicle steering comfort is an important issue for steering control of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), especially the shared steering control systems. However, it is difficult to be evaluated objectively, that is, usually evaluated subjectively by the driver. This paper aims to develop an objective evaluation method of vehicle steering comfort, which is mainly based on the steering efficiency of the driver estimated by electromyography (EMG). First, the driver steering efficiency, as a key factor reflecting driver's maneuver energetics and some neurological control behaviors, is calculated in two steering conditions based on the EMG. In this process, the subjective evaluation of the vehicle steering comfort is obtained simultaneously else by a test driver. Unlike the traditional steering efficiency calculated from steering gear, the driver steering efficiency does not only partly present the energy consumption of driver itself but also the driver–vehicle interaction. And then, the relation between the steering efficiency and subjective evaluation is analyzed based on both linear regression and spearman correlation analyses. This challenging work investigates the interaction between the quantitative energy consumption and driver's subjective feeling and builds bridge between them. At last, an objective evaluation method of vehicle steering comfort using the steering efficiency is proposed, which provides a selection with quantitative evaluation. The proposed method is helpful to improve the steering control by giving a quantitative index.