Electro-hydraulic steering solutions on agricultural machinery offers several benefits to the farmer. GPS-controlled auto-guidance reduces overlap for certain field operations improving the productivity and saving the farmers money. It is also a cornerstone in the controlled traffic farming philosophy and not at least it reduces the human effort during long work hours. Variable steering ratio further improves the operator comfort; studies have demonstrated a 16% reduction in average workload and a 6% productivity increase during front loader operation. Four-wheel steering including a new evolution of electro-hydraulic steering with a virtual steering axis sets new standard for manoeuvrability of agricultural machines. Electro-hydraulic steering systems however poses a challenge to the engineering teams developing, deploying and testing these solutions. Besides all the functional development, electro-hydraulic steering is also associated with safety concerns, which enquires OEMs to conduct risk assessments, develop safety functions and choosing components to obtain the needed approval for on-road driving. This paper will discuss some of the benefits of electro-hydraulic steering and some examples of safety functions needed for a virtual steering axis system.
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