Patent ID: 8645038

Claim:
A method of determining a maximum coefficient of friction μ max between a tire and an underlying surface, the method which comprises: empirically determining a reference curve μ ref (S) of a coefficient of friction μ ref as a function of a slip S between the tire and an underlying reference surface; determining a first momentary slip S 1 for the tire and a first momentary coefficient of friction μ 1 between the tire and the underlying surface at a first instant t 1 ; determining a second momentary slip S 2 for the tire and a second momentary coefficient of friction μ 2 between the tire and the underlying surface at a second instant t 2 ; computing a slope of the momentary curve μ(S) of the coefficient of friction μ as a function of the slip S; and computing the maximum coefficient of friction μ max between the tire and the underlying surface by transforming the reference curve μ ref (S) on the basis of the slope of the curve μ(S).