Sharing control with haptics: seamless driver support from manual to automatic control
Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 16, 2026

Haptic/Graphic Rehabilitation: Integrating a Robot into a Virtual Environment Library and Applying it to Stroke Therapy
Published on: August 8, 2011
Mark Mulder1, David A Abbink, Erwin R Boer
1Delft University of Technology, Kluyverweg 1, 2629 HS Delft, The Netherlands. Mark.Mulder@tudelft.nl
Objective:
Haptic shared control was investigated as a human-machine interface that can intuitively share control between drivers and an automatic controller for curve negotiation.
Background:
As long as automation systems are not fully reliable, a role remains for the driver to be vigilant to the system and the environment to catch any automation errors. The conventional binary switches between supervisory and manual control has many known issues, and haptic shared control is a promising alternative.
Method:
A total of 42 respondents of varying age and driving experience participated in a driving experiment in a fixed-base simulator, in which curve negotiation behavior during shared control was compared to during manual control, as well as to three haptic tunings of an automatic controller without driver intervention.
Results:
Under the experimental conditions studied, the main beneficial effect of haptic shared control compared to manual control was that less control activity (16% in steering wheel reversal rate, 15% in standard deviation of steering wheel angle) was needed for realizing an improved safety performance (e.g., 11% in peak lateral error). Full automation removed the need for any human control activity and improved safety performance (e.g., 35% in peak lateral error) but put the human in a supervisory position.
Conclusion:
Haptic shared control kept the driver in the loop, with enhanced performance at reduced control activity, mitigating the known issues that plague full automation.
Application:
Haptic support for vehicular control ultimately seeks to intuitively combine human intelligence and creativity with the benefits of automation systems.
Related Concept Videos
Controller Configurations
Control-system compensation involves various configurations, most commonly series or cascade compensation, in which the controller aligns...
PD Controller: Design
Designing a continuous-data controller requires selecting and linking components like adders and integrators, which are fundamental in Proportional,...
Hierarchy of Motor Control
Control Systems: Applications
In modern vehicles, control systems manage various functions to enhance performance and safety. The steering wheel and accelerator are primary inputs in a car's control system. The direction...
Feedback control systems
Linear feedback systems are theoretical models that simplify analysis and design. These systems operate under the principle that their output is directly proportional to their input within certain ranges. For instance, an amplifier in a control system behaves linearly as long as the input signal remains within a specific range. However, most physical systems exhibit inherent nonlinearity...
Open and closed-loop control systems
An open-loop control system operates without feedback from the output. It consists of two primary elements: the controller and the controlled process. The controller receives an input signal and...
