Abstract
Ultra-compact mobility has been demonstrated to have needs in various situations for short-distance travel in the local area. Itis expected to spread further by setting new standards and promotion by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism in Japan, and expected to be used by various drivers. However, there is no equipment such as power steering that reduces the driver's steering burden, and flexibility of driving posture is only driving seat moving back and forward because of the small size of the vehicle. From these reasons, some drivers operate the steering wheel in an uncomfortable driving posture. Therefore, a steer-by-wire system, which transmits steering operation to electric signals and steer the tires by an actuator, is expected to reduce the driver’s burden of steering operation by unreserved layout of the steering wheel. In this study, we established a two-dimensional model of the driver's arm to estimate a comfortable driving posture for each physique of the driver, and the effects of differences in physique and gripping position on the driver's joints were conducted. As a result of the simulation with changing the height of the steering wheel, it shows that the shoulder joint burden was more reduced than the elbow joint one.
