ABSTRACT
For subjective evaluation of tire handling, test drivers perform certain maneuvers and rate the handling of a tire. To know more about how these driver opinions are formed, this paper presents a method for modelling the adapting behavior of a driver. This method is based on field experiments were two professional tire test drivers and eight nonprofessional, but highly skilled drivers performed several double lane changes with different tires and different values for the vehicle speed. Three different preview driver models were implemented. The results show that the amount of driver workload is reflected in driver parameter changes and that these can be related to tire handling differences. For differences due to different tires the professional test drivers group in combination with a discrete preview driver model with four driver parameters showed the best results for the parameter lead term constant.
