Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!usc!apple!well!nagle From: nagle@well.sf.ca.us (John Nagle) Newsgroups: comp.robotics Subject: Re: Mathematical Models of Automobile Dynamics Message-ID: <22739@well.sf.ca.us> Date: 19 Jan 91 09:05:21 GMT References: <50852@cornell.UUCP> Lines: 19 As mentioned above, some very detailed models of automobile handling are available. Existing models are good enough to predict vehicle behavior even under extreme conditions. The first really good model was developed at the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory (now Calspan) back in the 1970s. As a demonstration of its validity, it was used to design a set of ramps for a car stunt in which a car executed a 360 degree roll in the air and landed smoothly on the landing ramp. (A version of this stunt can be seen in one of the James Bond movies; the ramps look like the ruins of a bridge, but were very carefully calculated. A movie credit appears for the computation.) The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has been doing some simulations of automated freeway driving, although their model is 2D and has rather simplistic dynamics. Contact the Caltrans PATH (Programs to Automate the Highway) office in Sacramento. John Nagle