Individual differences in preferred steering effort for steer-by-wire systems

Steer-by-wire systems provide drivers with the opportunity to personalize steering settings in vehicles. Studies conducted in the past have indicated that preferences for steering effort, one of the factors which affect steering feel, vary based on individual differences that include factors such as age, gender and driving style. These differences have mostly been established by subjective evaluations and comparative studies, where participants were unable to modify steering effort actively while driving a vehicle. This paper describes an experiment conducted on a driving simulator designed with a user interface that allows participants to actively modify steering effort settings on the steering wheel, to investigate the effect of gender on preferences for desired steering effort and personalization of future steering systems. Participants in the study performed multiple driving tasks on the simulator while interacting with the user interface to vary steering effort and subsequently reported their preferred level. Results from the study indicate individual differences exist with respect to preferred steering effort, although gender does not significantly impact the preference for steering effort. On the basis of the findings we propose a recommendation for the design and development of by-wire steering systems.