If it weren't for the F1 events I first touched, I might have been addicted to the drifting fun of Head D. Not "recognizing" the "fake handle" that drifted on the paved road too early did make me lose a lot of fun with the car. "Flying close to the ground" is certainly an efficient and direct racing experience. But the sound of stepping on the oil in the drift competition, as well as the millimeter-level closeness, test the audience's lung capacity at all times. Seeing Kei Tsuchiya also made me understand that racing is not only a fun experience of racing. But then again, can drift only be used as a form of entertainment or competition?
Toyota certainly does not think so, and the recent news of "Toyota's development of self-drift technology" has aroused the interest of many riders. However, Toyota Motor, which has always been "responsible", does not seem to think too much fun, but directly links the development of this technology with safety.
The driving school is unreliable, Toyota is on its own
In fact, it is also well understood in principle that drift itself is an "aesthetic" in which the vehicle is on the verge of being out of control. For the majority of civilian vehicles, "not out of control" is naturally pursued by car companies and drivers. However, since the invention of the automobile, the number of car accidents and casualties has obviously been more convincing. Then the "aesthetics" of drifting to pull the vehicle back at the last moment before it gets out of control has become the main subject of Toyota's new technology.
In fact, before Toyota developed this technology, through the reasonable operation of the driver, it was possible to achieve the effect that Toyota wanted to pursue. In F1, for example, even the best racers in the world will still suffer from a loss of grip at extreme speed. "Saving the car" through drifting has become another "cold knowledge" that tests the driver's skills. However, for civilian vehicles, allowing the driver to react in an instant, and make correct judgments and operations, the requirements are too demanding.
For example, when the front wheels of the vehicle slip, the majority of front-wheelers must immediately loosen the oil to avoid further deviations in the direction, while feeling the gradual recovery of the grip of the front wheels, and gradually returning to the steering wheel slowly. A small number of rear-drive models only need to slow down and stabilize the throttle, and with slow correction of direction. It sounds like the rear drive is more relaxed than the front drive, both in terms of urgency after slipping and the handling environment. But the rear drive is obviously more testing of the driver's operational proficiency, as well as the driving mentality after skidding. So we can also see that in addition to the characteristics of the rear drive itself, on the complex road surface of ice and snow, there are not a few rear drive vehicles that eventually cause accidents.
The logic references ESP, but requires real person teaching
Toyota's solution is naturally "it is better to seek others than to seek oneself", since it is unrealistic to train car owners, then it is still dependent on technology. The so-called "self-drift technology" can be seen as an extension and supplement to the electronic body stabilization system (ESP). It is extended because the technology also works through the acquisition of vehicle data (calculating the vehicle's imminent trajectory every 20 seconds) and intervening with the vehicle by means of an execution unit such as a braking system.
Speaking of additions, Toyota's "self-drift technology" is obviously not a simple upgrade of the electronic body stability system. It can even be said that there are essential differences in execution conditions, execution capabilities and execution methods. First of all, in terms of conditions, the active driving assistance function at this stage, including the electronic body stabilization system, basically needs to rely on the vehicle to still have enough friction, that is, the tire still needs to be within the "saturation point". But toyota's "self-drifting technology" is implemented on the condition that the tire is already outside the "saturation point".
Secondly, in terms of execution, taking the electronic body stability system as an example, it is mainly through the brake system, with the intervention of the engine output and the gearbox gear, to achieve the correction of the vehicle. Toyota's "self-drift technology" can already achieve precise control of the steering system, clutch, individual wheel brakes, and throttle on the current experimental models. Judging from the scope of execution in which the executive force has been involved, it is obviously more powerful and rich than the active safety functions that are now known to everyone.
In order to achieve the above operations, it is obviously not enough for the OEMs to rely on the tuning rules of the electronic body stability system in the past. Toyota's method is more direct, that is, "find someone to teach". Through cooperation with professional drift racers, the drift lines and angles of Toyota's "self-drift technology" are adjusted by their "hand-to-hand". With the increase in the amount of data and the improvement of the system algorithm, the system will gradually have obstacle avoidance and vehicle control technology comparable to that of professional racing drivers. This technology is also described by Toyota as a nonlinear model predictive control technology.
Toyota finally did not forget to emphasize that although the system has the operation ability of a professional driver, in the case of system intervention, the vehicle will always comply with the corresponding regulatory speed limits. Although the words are full of "survival desire", the vehicle that Toyota tested for the system is the famous "bull demon king" - Toyota SUPRA. In addition to the structure of its rear drive is more suitable for tuning the technology, imagine the first SUPRA equipped with it, what will be used by riders? Of course, safety comes first, but the threshold for showmanship is undoubtedly lower. Comparable to the drifting skills of professional drivers, can it really be bought with only money?
Written in the end: The birth of the drift technique is full of coincidences and dangers. The study and exploration of this "coincidence" has created the unique beauty of drift in the field of racing today. Toyota's talent is clearly in the exploration of its "danger". This is also in line with Toyota's momentum of "crazy" lighting up its own technology tree in terms of safety skills since the beginning of the TNGA era. However, compared with the test of SUPRA, when the technology can land on the Camry, Corolla and other models, it seems to be more worth looking forward to.