US 11,807,322 B2
Vehicle steering system
Jan Bremkens, Straelen/NRW (DE); Daniel F. Slavin, Northville, MI (US); Simon Nolden, Köln/NRW (DE); Tomas Mawyin, Livonia, MI (US); and Alex Gidley, Ann Arbor, MI (US)
Assigned to Ford Global Technologies, LLC, Dearborn, MI (US)
Filed by Ford Global Technologies, LLC, Dearborn, MI (US)
Filed on Jul. 12, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/373,327.
Claims priority of application No. 102020118485.9 (DE), filed on Jul. 14, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0017142 A1, Jan. 20, 2022
Int. Cl. B62D 6/00 (2006.01); B62D 5/04 (2006.01); B62D 15/02 (2006.01)
CPC B62D 6/005 (2013.01) [B62D 5/0481 (2013.01); B62D 6/008 (2013.01); B62D 15/025 (2013.01)] 9 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A steering system for a motor vehicle comprising:
an electronics control unit configured to:
determine a present steering position of a manually actuatable steer-by-wire steering unit of the motor vehicle based on sensor data;
generate a steering command based on the present steering position of the steer-by-wire steering unit;
then, determine, based on sensor-detected present vehicle dynamics data, whether the motor vehicle is in a straight-ahead running situation during driving operation;
upon determining the motor vehicle is in the straight-ahead running situation, determine whether the present steering position of the steer-by-wire steering unit deviates from a straight-ahead running position of the steer-by-wire steering unit for at least one of a specified time period and a specified traveling distance of the motor vehicle;
upon determining a deviation of the present steering position of the steer-by-wire steering unit from the straight-ahead running position, generate a compensation steering command based on the deviation; and
generate a corrected steering command by combining the compensation steering command with the steering command,
wherein a resetting unit, that includes a resetting spring or a servo motor, is configured to, upon determining the present steering position deviates from the straight-ahead running position, act on the steer-by-wire steering unit with a resetting force in a direction of the straight-ahead running position.