Crosswind Behavior in the Driver's Perspective

Investigating the crosswind behavior of passenger cars is one main research subject at the Research Institute of Automotive Engineering and Vehicle Engines Stuttgart (FKFS), an institute of the University of Stuttgart. Faced with the vehicle dynamics during stochastic crosswind, this paper is concerned with the evaluation of the crosswind behavior as experienced by the driver. Most of the evaluation criteria of crosswind are currently based on the vehicle reactions only and exclude the driver's actions. A comparison of the crosswind behavior of two vehicles at the FKFS showed a non-uniform - in some cases even contrary - evaluation when applying these criteria.

This paper introduces a new approach to considering the vehicle's crosswind behavior which includes the driver's reactions. The fundamental issue of this new approach is to derive the driver's evaluation from their steering inputs when compensating for the crosswind excitation. In other words: The driver is used as a sensor. Corresponding to the current stage of the project, this paper discusses the first experiences with this new approach.