Method to objectively evaluate subjective ratings of ride comfort

Abstract

Research on human vibration is concerned with the response of the human body to the amounts, frequencies, directions, and exposure times of exerted forces. Processes have been developed to standardize these factors, and the typical examples are ISO 2631-1 and BS 6841, which are related to whole-body vibration and ISO 5349-1, which is related to handtransmitted vibration. Because ride comfort and human vibration are, in some sense, a mental and environmental problem that is influenced by psychological effects, human sensation in relation to vibration has both intra-and inter-subject variability. When the ride comfort index is defined as a physical quantity and is written as an equation, it is related to acceleration using both the r.m.s. (root mean square) and r.m.q. (root mean quadrature) as descriptors. In this study, two passenger cars were driven at several speeds over several road profiles to evaluate the subjective rating of ride comfort. To measure the acceleration signals that are transmitted to the feet, hip, back and hand, four tri-axial translational accelerometers and one tri-axial gyro sensor were mounted on the steering wheel and on the passenger seat and floor, respectively. Correlations were performed to determine the relationship between the measured accelerations and the subjective ratings of 4 expert drivers using a psychophysical power law. Regression models correlating the 5 subjective assessments were developed. Subjective ratings of the comfort at the hip had the highest correlation with the objective measurements.

Toward a Comfortable Driving Experience for a Self-Driving Shuttle Bus

“…Although remarkable achievements have been published in recent decades regarding the development of an autonomous vehicle control system [1][2][3], there remains a lack of investigation on the control strategy in terms of self-driving service operations in accordance with comfortable driving factors for passengers. Typically, ride quality or driving comfort is determined by various factors such as noise, temperature, engine vibration, indoor air quality, and type of seats [4]. Although it is difficult to define "ride convenience" because it is highly related to personal preference and individual tastes, driving comfort for autonomous car users has been studied with respect to human-machine interface (HMI) [5][6][7].…”

Ride comfort assessment for automated vehicles utilizing a road surface model and Monte Carlo simulations

“…When these vibrations are low, the human body feels relatively comfortable; few negative influences on well‐being or health and little chance of motion sickness. Note that ride comfort is also influenced by psychological factors and can vary throughout different occupants (Kim et al., 2011). In that sense, one could consider ride comfort as a subjective criterion; however, the current work focuses on a rather objective assessment, ignoring individual psychological aspects.…”

Correlation between objective and subjective tests for vehicle ride comfort evaluations

“…Although there are many studies in the literature about objective tests, there are very few publications that make correlation studies between subjective and objective tests. Kim et al 6 performed objective comfort assessment studies on two different vehicles by collecting acceleration data at different speeds and different road conditions via vehicle floor, seat, and steering wheel. Comfort calculations were carried out according to ISO 2631.…”