Patent ID: 8219284

Claim:
A steering control apparatus configured to control a steering of a vehicle of a steer-by-wire type, the apparatus comprising: steered-wheel motors configured to apply separate torques to right and left steered wheels, respectively; a rod member configured to couple the right and left steered wheels to steer the steered wheels; and a steering controller configured to control the steered-wheel motors, wherein each steered wheel comprises an offset configured between a center of a contact face thereof and a kingpin point thereof in a lateral direction of the vehicle, wherein the kingpin point is defined by a straight line through a first joint at which a shock absorber unit and a vehicle body of the vehicle are jointed and a second joint at which the motor and a lower arm are jointed, and is positioned closer to the vehicle on an outside portion of an inboard sidewall of a steered wheel, wherein the offset is greater than a distance between the center of the contact face of each steered wheel and the inboard sidewall of the steered wheel, to optimize a generation of steering effort via the rod member, wherein the steering controller is further configured to control a driving of the steered-wheel motors to generate a torque difference between the right and left steered wheels, and further configured to provide the steering effort based on the torque difference for each of the right and left steered wheels via the rod member, thereby to steer the vehicle, and wherein the right and left steered wheels are configured, when being steered by the rod member, to rotate such that the center of the contact face turns in a circular arc with respect to the kingpin point, wherein the circular arc has a radius which is equal to the offset.