Development of Electrostatic Capacity Type Steering Sensor Using Conductive Leather 2020-01-1209

Today’s progress in electronic technologies is advancing the process of making vehicles more intelligent, and this is making driving safer and more comfortable. In recent years, numerous vehicles equipped with high-level Advance Driving Assist System (ADAS) have been put on the market. High-level ADAS can detect impending lane deviation, and control the vehicle so that the driver does not deviate from the lane. Lane departure prevention systems are able to detect imminent departure from the road, allowing the driver to apply control to prevent lane departure. These systems possess enormous potential to reduce the number of accidents resulting from road departure, but their effectiveness is highly reliant on their level of acceptance by drivers. The effectiveness of the systems will depend on when they are providing driving assistance, what level of laxness in terms of maintaining contact with the steering wheel is allowed on the part of the driver, and what level of assistance the system provides. In order to prevent accidents caused by the driver's confidence in the system beforehand, detection of the state of the driver’s steering is becoming increasingly important.

The purpose of this developed conductive-coating steering system is to enhance the functionality of driver status identification in high-level ADAS in the range of ordinary operation. A conductive coating is used with high-level ADAS to add functions that detect the driver’s pulse rate and grip on the steering wheel. In the range of ordinary operation, steering wheel grip firmness was increased by 20%, and the heating performance of the steering wheel heater was increased by 32%, to enhance comfort.