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This study addresses the performance of four-wheel-steering vehicles in high-speed lane change maneuvers. We first compare the recorded steering command of an experienced driver in executing a lane change maneuver with that determined via solving a suitably formulated optimization problem, and found them to be qualitatively comparable. This finding allows us to analytically compare the optimal lane change performance achievable with both two and four wheel steering vehicles. For a representative high-speed lane change maneuver, our study revealed that, in the hands of an experienced driver, the performance benefit achievable with four-wheel-steering vehicles is not significant. This conclusion is in agreement with road-test results obtained with two production four-wheel-steering vehicles. The applicability of the proposed “optimal control” approach in evaluating the performance of other driver-vehicle maneuvers is an interesting topic for future study.

A “lane change crash” is defined as a family of collisions that occurred when a driver attempts to change lane and strikes or is struck by a vehicle in the adjacent lane. One type of maneuvers that is commonly used to avert a lane change crash involved aborting the intended lane change, and returning the vehicle to the original lane of the subject vehicle. This study addresses the performance of driver-vehicle systems in aborted lane change maneuvers. We first compared the recorded steering command of an experienced driver in executing a lane change maneuver with that determined via solving a suitably formulated optimization problem, and found them to be qualitatively comparable. This finding allows us to analytically assess whether an experienced driver can successfully avert a lane change crash if he responsed to the warning from a collision detection system Te seconds after the initiation of the lane change maneuver.