A Simulation Study of Maneuverability of Vehicle

Abstract

In the field of vehicle handling research many and various investigations have been devoted to evaluate driver-vehicle system performance. However, no generally accepted test procedures have been evolved from the past research efforts. This paper proposes a method for evaluating objective and fundamental maneuverability of the vehicle by a simulation study of lane-change maneuvers. As the most important handling qualities of the vehicle in cruising on the roads, there could be considered three aspects; (1) keeping the vehicle with ease on the centerline of the road in fast straight running, (2) conducting lane-changing maneuvers quickly and safely and (3) making a rapid 90 degree turn smoothly at the corners. No doubt the first of them is mainly concerned with the directional stability and both the second and the third are closely related to the controllability of the vehicle. In this paper, the second aspect of vehicle handling, that is, a double lane-change maneuver is selected to evaluate the maneuverability of a motor vehicle.