Evaluation of active Drivesticks as alternative controls in a high fidelity driving simulator

摘要

The developments in Steer-by-Wire Systems allow for the re-thinking of the commonly known steering system meaningboth the development of new controls replacing the steering wheel as well as the design of the feedback corresponding toinform the human driver about the vehicle state. By conducting a user study in a high fidelity driving simulator this paperinvestigates the quality of vehicle stabilization performed via Active Drivesticks as alternative controls in comparison to theconventional steering wheel in a high-speed scenario. On a subjective level, assessed driving pleasure, experienced comfortand usability were high. Still, the subjective evaluation of safety feeling, experienced stress as well as necessary effort, wasin favor of the conventional steering wheel, which subjects have been using over many years of driving. In addition, objectivedriving state variables that were measured to assess the participants’ performance in controlling the target path show aslight advantage for the classical steering control. In conclusion, it could be shown that despite the difference in experienceand training with the different controls, the vehicle stabilization performed via Drivesticks is almost as good as the oneperformed via the conventional steering wheel in a high-speed driving scenario.