Automatic Vehicle Controllers

Dynamic Research, Inc. (DRI) has specified, designed, fabricated, installed and conducted evaluations with Automatic Vehicle Controllers (AVC) for a variety of vehicles, including automobiles, light trucks, SUVs, all terrain vehicles, and motorcycles. An AVC is a device for automating any or all of a vehicle's control functions in a prescribed manner. They range from devices that control one particular vehicle input, such as steering (as pictured below), to fully remotely controlled vehicles, in which steering, braking, acceleration are all controlled to perform a particular maneuver.

Advantages of an AVC

• Precise, accurate and repeatable inputs
• Sensor feedback can be used in control algorithms
• Can be setup to be controlled remotely
• Digital real time control system
• Inputs can be simple or very complex, including waveforms which are difficult or impossible for human drivers (e.g., sinewave sweeps), or on the other hand, typical of human drivers
• Minimize risk of testing

DRI’s latest light vehicle AVC is a steering robot that is appropriate for testing of passenger cars, light trucks, and SUVs. It meets all FMVSS 126 requirements, and it has been programmed to perform various types of automatic steering. This includes

• NHTSA’s New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) Roll Rate Feedback Fishhook test
• FMVSS 126 (electronic stability control regulation) Sine With Dwell test
• Sinusoids
• Ramps (e.g., NHTSA’s Slowly Increasing Steer pretest)
• Pulses (e.g., haversine input of SAE J2664 to test trailer sway damping)

The AVC’s specifications and features include:

• Maximum torque of 60 ft-lb (88 N-m)
• Maximum rate in excess of 1200 deg/sec
• Instrument panel is only slightly obscured, so that displays and telltale lights can be seen by driver
• Deadman switch for safety
• Control and data acquisition software are configured for maximum usability – most changes can be made via the touchscreen monitor

Dynamic Research, Inc. (DRI), specializes in applied research, development and consulting in the areas of vehicle dynamics and control, vehicle systems, human factors and ergonomics, biomechanics, structural mechanics, simulator technology, and accidentology. For further information please contact us.

Back to Special Purpose Experimental Devices in Support of Services