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This paper describes a control method to improve straight-line stability without sacrificing natural steering feel, utilizing a newly developed steering system controlling the steering force and the wheel angle independently. It cancels drifting by a road cant and suppresses the yaw angle induced by road surface irregularities or a side wind. Therefore drivers can keep the car straight with such a little steering input adjustment, thus reducing the driver's workload greatly. In this control method, a camera mounted behind the windshield recognizes the forward lane and calculate the discrepancy between the vehicle direction and the driving lane. This method has been applied to the test car, and the reduction of the driver's workload was confirmed. This paper presents an outline of the method and describes its advantages.

This paper describes a novel prototype driver support system aimed at improving drivers' awareness of changing situations ahead as well as at reducing the frequency of approaching a preceding car closely. The control algorithm is based on the idea of a virtual repulsive force that increases as the host vehicle draws closer to a car ahead. The virtual repulsive force is utilized to determine the accelerator pedal reaction force and to control the effective driving and braking force. A build-up of accelerator pedal reaction force helps drivers recognize that the situation ahead is changing towards a more critical state so that they can appropriately release their accelerator pedal and be ready to operate the brake pedal. The driving and braking force control, which is used in parallel to the control of the accelerator pedal reaction force, is designed to actively reduce the frequency where the host vehicle driver closes in on a preceding car without driver's intention.