Steering technology towards better vehicle dynamics

Time of India

14-06-2025

Until autonomous cars become mainstream, which some argue is a really long time away, if at all it happens, the steering wheel isn't going away and the vehicle steering system will continue to see technology development. 'I don't think that the steering system is disappearing in the next 30 years,' Dr.
Peter Pfeffer
, CEO,
MdynamiX
, and Professor,
Automotive Engineering
, Munich University of Applied Sciences.
A joystick could also replace the steering wheel, but at the system level there's a change happening, and that's software replacing hardware. Steer-by-wire technology is set to be the next big thing in steering system engineering. 'A lot of OEMs have large projects to get the steer-by-wire in mass production. Some of them stopped the game because of the economic pressure, but some others are still working,' says Dr. Pfeffer.
ADAS and vehicle dynamics
With the ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System) trend increasingly gaining traction, vehicle driveability, handling and comfort, or vehicle dynamics in other words, is attracting more attention. That's also leading to more hardware-in-loop (HIL) testing. The HIL test benches, linked to the driving simulators, can help gauge and calibrate the steering feel and brake feel on the driving simulator.
'This is a new trend, and a lot of people say that then driving simulator makes really sense, because then we can calibrate the systems like steering system, brake system, lane keeping system and so on, and make the evaluation of the tyres too,' says Dr. Pfeffer, who's also a global expert in steering systems and vehicle dynamics.
The Pfeffer Steering System designed by Dr. Pfeffer is a well used conceptual framework for engineering vehicle dynamics, with a special focus on steering behaviour and its effect on droveability. It was first developed as a "very large research project" for BMW, which focused on strong driving dynamics as a brand attribute, with also a tagline of 'Sheer Driving Pleasure'.
The German luxury car major's goal was to find objective targets for steering feel. They wanted to develop the steering feel with virtual methods. 'And here one part was to make this evaluation of the steering system with test drivers, subjective evaluations, and the other side was the objective evaluation. And the next step was that we want to produce these objective values out of the simulation tools. And this was the driver of this development,' explains Dr. Pfeffer.
Good steering feel or feedback is key for a better driveability or driving experience. Will a drive-by-wire system be able to match the experience of a mechanically linked steering system? Yes, according to Dr. Pfeffer. He says, 'We made such a car, in partnership. It was also used for racing, and the feedback from race drivers was very, very positive, but this is not in mass production. It was just some first prototypes.'
Autonomous, ADAS tech will see gradual progression
Autonomous Driving is one of the key global megatrends but its progression has significantly lagged behind other megatrends such as electrification, Connected Vehicles. Assisted driving in the form of ADAS tech is paving the path for it, but time will have to be invested too for the requisite technology maturity. 'When you look back, the first ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control) was launched around 2000, and now 70 or 80% of cars in Germany are equipped with this system. It has taken more than 20 years (for the tech) to get to a maturity level, and the same will be for lane keeping tech which started later. So it takes time,' says Dr. Pfeffer, who is confident that Autonomous Driving will 'of course' become a reality.
Role of Industry-Academia collaboration
In an increasingly technology-intensive, disruptive era, automotive industry players have to innovate and develop technologies faster than ever before. In such a scenario, the value of or need for industry-academia collaboration may be stronger than ever. Dr. Pfeffer, who also had a stint at Audi as a chassis and NVH engineer, many years ago, believes that it's important for academia to be in tune with the trends and needs in the industry landscape.
'The big benefit of having worked in industry is that you know what the industry is needing, and you are not teaching stuff which is not for any use in the industry,' says Dr. Pfeffer, who also points out that in Germany it's essential for an individual to have industry work experience to apply for professorship.
Academicians-led enterprise
Dr. Pfeffer, and his core teammates at MdynamiX also form an interesting example of academicians and entrepreneurs at the same time. Peter Pfeffer, Bernhard Schick, Stefan Sentpali, and Markus Krug, all professors, came together to form MdynamiX, an engineering firm specialising in ADAS/AD, UX, vehicle dynamics, steering & brakes and NVH, in 2014.
Why did a group of professors form an engineering firm when they could have done developmental projects in their labs? 'Because there are so many PhD theses, tons of papers written, there's so much knowledge in this. But development engineers don't have time to read the PhD for the whole day or so. And so to make it easier to use them, we said, okay, we have to develop easy to use products and software out of the best ideas,' says Dr. Pfeffer. MdynamiX also has an academy automotive engineers are trained to use such methods.
Given the growing ADAS trend in India and the opportunities arising thereof, the
Munich based MdynamiX has also established an India presence with a joint venture with Delhi based Automotive Test Systems
.
To get more insights and also discuss the various vehicle dynamics related topics with Dr. Peter Pfeffer, be at the 6th ETAuto Tech Summit, where the technologist and academician will participate as a Keynote Speaker.