Patent ID: 7164980

Claim:
An integrated vehicle steering and braking control architecture for a vehicle having steerable rear wheels, comprising: a steering angle sensor generating a front steering angle measurement signal; a vehicle stability control system for controlling selective braking operations of the wheels of the vehicle, said vehicle stability control system generating a vehicle velocity measurement based upon a vehicle dynamic state detected by at least one sensor, said vehicle stability control system also generating a calculated closed loop rear steer command based upon both the vehicle dynamic state and an open loop rear steer command; and a rear wheel steering control system for controlling a steering angle of the rear wheels of the vehicle, said rear wheel control system generating said open loop rear steer command based upon the vehicle velocity measurement generated by said vehicle stability control system and upon said front steering angle measurement provided, said open loop rear steer command being transmitted in a feedback operation to said vehicle stability control system, said rear wheel steering control system also generating a rear steer signal that is transmitted to a power steering gear controlling the steering angle of the rear wheels of the vehicle.