Vehicle steering arrangement, autonomous vehicle steering arrangement, a vehicle, and a method of steering a vehicle

A method of steering a vehicle using a vehicle steering arrangement comprising a rack, a steering column, and a steering wheel in mechanical connection with steerable wheels of the vehicle via the rack and the steering column, the method comprising:

• sensing a current position of the rack using a position sensor of the steering arrangement;
• sensing a torque applied onto the steering wheel and providing a torque signal representative thereof using a torque sensor of the steering arrangement;
• obtaining forces of the wheels acting on the rack using a force obtaining arrangement of the steering arrangement;
• providing a virtual rack position based on a virtual steering model and at least a combination of the obtained forces and the torque signal using an electronic control unit of the steering arrangement;
• controlling a rack-mounted electromechanical actuator of the steering arrangement such that the current position of the rack is controlled toward the virtual rack position using the electronic control unit;
• and
• obtaining the forces by comparing a current speed of the rack with at least one of an electric current supplied to the rack-mounted electromechanical actuator or an electric voltage supplied to the rack-mounted electromechanical actuator, using the force obtaining arrangement;
• wherein the force obtaining arrangement comprises the rack-mounted electromechanical actuator, the position sensor and the electronic control unit.

A vehicle steering arrangement for a vehicle, the steering arrangement comprising:

• a rack;
• a position sensor to sense a current position of the rack;
• a steering column;
• steerable wheels;
• a steering wheel configured to be in mechanical connection with the wheels via the rack and the steering column;
• a vehicle suspension suspending the wheels, wherein a mechanical trail of the vehicle suspension is configured to be lower than a peak value of a pneumatic trail of the wheels;
• a torque sensor to sense a torque applied onto the steering wheel and to provide a torque signal representative thereof;
• an electronic control unit provided with a virtual steering model;
• a rack-mounted electromechanical actuator to selectively apply a force onto the rack;
• and
• a force obtaining arrangement configured to obtain forces of the wheels acting on the rack;
• wherein the electronic control unit is configured to provide a virtual rack position based on the virtual steering model and at least a combination of the obtained forces and the torque signal, wherein the electronic control unit is configured to control the rack-mounted electromechanical actuator such that the current position of the rack is controlled towards the virtual rack position, and wherein the electronic control unit is arranged to control the rack-mounted electromechanical actuator to provide an active aligning torque.

A method of steering a vehicle using a vehicle steering arrangement comprising a rack, a steering column, steerable wheels, a steering wheel in mechanical connection with the wheels via the rack and the steering column, and a vehicle suspension suspending the wheels, wherein a mechanical trail of the vehicle suspension is configured to be lower than a peak value of a pneumatic trail of the wheels, the method comprising:

• sensing a current position of the rack using a position sensor of the steering arrangement;
• sensing a torque applied onto the steering wheel and providing a torque signal representative thereof using a torque sensor of the steering arrangement;
• obtaining forces of the wheels acting on the rack using a force obtaining arrangement of the steering arrangement;
• providing a virtual rack position based on a virtual steering model and at least a combination of the obtained forces and the torque signal using an electronic control unit of the steering arrangement;
• controlling a rack-mounted electromechanical actuator of the steering arrangement such that the current position of the rack is controlled toward the virtual rack position using the electronic control unit;
• and
• controlling the rack-mounted electromechanical actuator to provide an active aligning torque using the electronic control unit.