Correlation of Subjective Assessments and Objective Metrics for on-Center Feeling

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">Steering feeling plays a critical role in the driving experience and is one of the most significant topics during a new vehicle development process. To reach a consensus for the customers’ satisfaction in both the subjective and objective characteristics in a particular market segment, there have been several studies to investigate the correlations between subjective and objective evaluations of on-center steering feeling. However, it is still not clear how to determine the steering characteristic based on the correlations.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">In this paper, a series of new correlations between subjective and objective evaluations are built, which focus on steering stiffness, on-center feel, torque symmetry, torque ripple etc. Firstly, a set of objective metrics which are followed by professional test drivers or tuning experts have been extracted from 12 vehicles’ on-center handling test based on ISO 13674-1 2023, these vehicles covering different motorcycle type, various brands and diverse tuning styles. Secondly, subjective assessments about these vehicles’ on-center feeling have been conducted by 10 highly skilled drivers, and further analysis have been carried out to check the drivers’ rating tendency and discard the outliers for following work. Finally, the correlation of subjective assessments and objective metrics for on-center feeling has been built using neural network analysis (NN), and the optimal steering feeling is developed based on the subjective and objective characteristics which have achieved customer satisfaction. The proposed correlation shows great potential in helping engineers streamline the design and development process of the steering system.</div></div>