One of the most important tasks of the development of the electric steering systems is to provide comfortable steering feel in the vehicle, and the development of the application software required to this. In order to achieve the steering feel expected by the vehicle manufacturer – taking into account the boundary conditions provided by it – we develop the complex mechatronic system through the following steps:

• Analysis of customer requirements;
• System specification (identification of the system functions);
• Preparation of system design;
• Specification of the used components (for example: we specify gear ratios, torque and power of the electrical motor, characteristics of the sensors).

One of the major components is the application software, which performs the highest level control of the system, therefore directly responsible for forming the steering feel. The detailed simulation system model, as well as the model based software development provide an opportunity to check the gained results according to real conditions following the selection of the structure and the parameters of the system. We conduct the pre-tuning of functions and testing of theirs robustness with the help of the simulations.

After the components of the steering gear (e.g. mechanics, motor, control unit, software) have been manufactured, the system integration takes place, which is followed by measurements on a test bench for basic functional checks of the steering system.

If measurements show the appropriate results, the steering system will be built into the vehicle. The purpose of tests carried out on the vehicle is the final tuning of steering algorithms and the checking of reliable operation of the system. At this stage of the development, in cooperation with test drivers of the vehicle manufacturer we tune the required steering feel and perform the system assessment. Based upon the results obtained, we propose changes or further development to individual components of the system.