Patent ID: 7073623

Claim:
An electrical steering system comprising: an upper shaft; a steering wheel coupled to the upper shaft for rotation with the upper shaft; an electric motor capable of receiving a rotational input from the upper shaft; a torque transducer connected to the upper shaft for sensing a torque placed on the steering wheel; a steering assembly coupled to at least one of the electric motor and the upper shaft; an operator detector electrically or electromagnetically coupled to the torque transducer, the operator detector detecting a presence or an absence of the operator for a corresponding time interval, the presence of the operator for the corresponding time interval determined by the sensed torque meeting or exceeding a threshold minimum torque level; and a steering controller for controlling the electric motor based upon at least one of the detected presence and the detected absence, the steering controller having a first mode comprising a manned mode to turn the shaft with assistance of the operator consistent with the detected presence; the steering controller having a second mode comprising an unmanned mode to the turn the shaft without the operator applying any torque to the steering wheel consistent with the detected absence.