When the adhesion limit is reached, the vehicle becomes difficult to control and drivers might not be able to avoid dangerous situations since they are not experienced in dealing with these operating conditions.
To this end, vehicle safety systems have been significantly developed in the automotive industry in the past years. Most of these systems regulate torque independently on the wheels to generate a yaw moment which is able to improve vehicle stability and traction. ABS and ESP act only on braking torques, while active and semi-active differentials regulate the driving torques.
In the present paper numerical results will be presented from ISO manoeuvres, demonstrating the benefits of the active control systems such as active differential and ESP on critical situations over a passive vehicle. In addition, the use of a sophisticated driver model can undoubtely provide some meaningful conclusions with regard to the driver’s actual interaction with the control system.