Ford patents technique to scale back turning radius on future automobiles

Some automakers have turned to all-wheel steering steering to make automobiles extra maneuverable, however Ford is seeking to patent an alternate resolution.

A patent utility filed with the USA Patent and Trademark Workplace (USPTO) describes a technique to scale back turning radius on future automobiles by various torque to particular person wheels.

Within the proposed system, an onboard controller would monitor elements like steering angle and wheel velocity to find out if turning-radius discount can be useful. That is known as “turn-assist mode” within the utility.

When activated, this mode reduces torque to the within rear wheel, producing added yaw, or sideways motion. It then applies extra torque to each entrance wheels to assist steadiness out that yaw and pull the automobile out of the flip. That sounds a bit just like the torque-vectoring techniques already utilized in some manufacturing vehicles to enhance dealing with, however particularly aimed toward reducing turning radius.

The torque discount for the within rear wheel may very well be achieved by way of braking, so this technique may very well be utilized in front-wheel drive automobiles with out pushed rear axles, Ford famous within the utility. In all-wheel-drive functions, the rear axle may be disconnected from the entrance axle in turn-assist mode, the appliance suggests.

As with all patent functions, it is unclear if Ford will put torque-based flip help into manufacturing. However this is not the primary utility for a patent of this class from the automaker; earlier this 12 months it filed for a tank flip characteristic, and it has filed others describing using four-wheel-steering to show the entrance and rear wheels in reverse instructions for an off-roading crawling characteristic. These in flip appear to construct on a four-wheel-steering patent utility printed in 2019.