This research aims at understanding how the driver interacts with the steering
wheel, in order to detect driving strategies. Such driving strategies will allow
in the future to derive accurate holistic driver models for enhancing both
safety and comfort of vehicles.
The use of an original instrumented steering wheel (ISW) allows to measure at
each hand, three forces, three moments, and the grip force. Experiments have
been performed with 10 nonprofessional drivers in a high-end dynamic driving
simulator. Three aspects of driving strategy were analyzed, namely the
amplitudes of the forces and moments applied to the steering wheel, the
correlations among the different signals of forces and moments, and the order of
activation of the forces and moments.
The results obtained on a road test have been compared with the ones coming from
a driving simulator, with satisfactory results.
Two different strategies for actuating the steering wheel have been identified.
In the first strategy, the torque is provided mostly by just one single arm and
hand. In the second strategy, the torque is created by both of the two arms and
hands, which apply forces and moments in opposite directions. Future holistic
driver models able to describe the forces acting at whole body may benefit from
the outcomes of this research.
