Subjective Evaluation and Vehicle Behavior in Lane-Change Maneuvers

Subjective evaluations are commonly used to assess the handling qualities of a vehicle. They involve several inherent problems, though, such as the rating scale, driving method, and test facilities. Several types of test courses are discussed in this paper.

Our statistical study indicates that the handling characteristics of a vehicle are closely associated with its behavior in lane-change maneuvers. On our test track we have set up various lane-change distances and offsets, to study the effect of speed and lane-change angle on the rating. From these results, we were able to ascertain those objective data that contribute to the driver's subjective rating.