Automatic braking-enhanced steering system

1. A vehicle, comprising:

a frame structure to which a majority of other components of said vehicle are directly or indirectly attached;

a suspension system that is engaged to said frame structure and supports said frame structure above the ground;

a powertrain that provides motive power for driving said vehicle along the ground;

wherein said suspension system comprises a first right ground-engaging runner and a second, left ground-engaging runner that are spaced from one another in directions transverse to a longitudinal axis of said vehicle;

a braking system that comprises a right braking unit that when actuated, resists motion of said first, right ground-engaging runner;

wherein said braking system also comprises a left braking unit that, when actuated, resists motion of said second, left around-engaging driver;

wherein said suspension system further comprises a third, steerable ground-engaging runner that is spaced from said first and second ground-engaging runners along said longitudinal axis of said vehicle;

a steering system with a steering-control component that an operator can manipulate to adjust a steering angle of said steerable ground-engaging runner within a predefined range of steering angles bounded by a rightmost steering angle and a leftmost steering angle;

one or more computers that directly or indirectly monitor a position of said steerable ground-engaging runner within said predefined range of steering angles;

wherein said one or more computers also monitor said vehicle's speed;

wherein said vehicle also comprises one or more sensors through which said one or more computers also monitor a magnitude and direction of effort applied to said steering-control component by an operator;

wherein said one or more computers operate according to steering-enhancement logic that includes a steering-enhancement mode of operation wherein said steering-enhancement logic causes said one or more computers to perform the steps of:

if said vehicle's speed is below a predetermined level and said position of said steerable ground-engaging runner is within a predetermined range adjacent a rightmost steering angle, controlling said right braking unit to effect right-biased differential braking with a magnitude that is dependent at least partially on said magnitude and direction of effort applied to said steering-control component by an operator; and

if said vehicle's speed is below said predetermined level and said position of said steerable ground-engaging runner is within a predetermined range adjacent a leftmost steering angle, controlling said left braking unit to effect left-biased differential braking with a magnitude that is dependent at least partially upon said magnitude and direction of effort applied to said steering-control component by an operator,

said steering-enhancement logic is further configured such that when said vehicle's speed is below said predetermined level, said position of said steerable ground-engaging runner is within said predetermined range adjacent said rightmost steering angle, and said direction of steering effort applied to said steering-control component is right, said one or more computers effect right-biased differential braking with a magnitude that increases as said magnitude of said steering effort applied to said steering control-component to the right increases; and

said steering-enhancement logic is further configured such that when said vehicle's speed is below said predetermined level, said position of said steerable ground-engaging runner is within said predetermined range adjacent said leftmost steering angle, and said direction of steering effort applied to said steering-control component is left, said one or more computers effect left-biased differential braking with a magnitude that increases as said magnitude of said steering effort applied to said steering control-component to the left increases,

said steering-control component is a steering wheel; and

said one or more sensors through which said one or more computers monitor said magnitude and direction of said effort applied to said steering wheel is a steering-wheel torque sensor,

said steering-enhancement logic is configured such that said steering-enhancement mode of operation is disabled if said one or more computers detect a faulty signal related to said steering angle, said magnitude and direction of effort applied to said steering wheel, or said speed of said vehicle.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein:

(a) said braking system is an anti-lock type braking system; and

(b) said steering-enhancement logic is configured such that said steering-enhancement mode of operation is disabled if said braking system goes into an ABS mode of operation.

3. The vehicle of claim 2 , wherein:

(a) said steering-enhancement logic is configured such that if a user communicates a predetermined set of signals to said one or more computers, said steering-enhancement logic disables said steering-enhancement mode of operation.

4. A vehicle, comprising:

(a) a frame structure to which a majority of other components of said vehicle are directly or indirectly attached;

(b) a suspension system that is engaged to said frame structure and supports said frame structure above the ground;

(c) a powertrain that provides motive power for driving said vehicle along the ground;

(d) wherein said suspension system comprises a first, right ground-engaging driver and a second, left ground-engaging driver that are spaced from one another in directions transverse to a longitudinal axis of said vehicle;

(e) wherein said powertrain is constructed and engaged to said first, right ground-engaging runner and said second, left ground-engaging runner in such a manner to simultaneously transmit power to both while allowing external forces to induce a speed differential between said first, right ground-engaging driver and said second, left ground-engaging driver

(f) a braking system that comprises a right braking unit that, when actuated, resists motion of said first, right ground-engaging driver;

(g) wherein said braking system also comprises a left braking unit that, when actuated, resists motion of said second, left ground-engaging driver;

(h) wherein said suspension system further comprises at least one steerable ground-engaging runner that is spaced from said first right ground-engaging driver and said second, left ground-engaging driver along said longitudinal axis of said vehicle;

(i) a steering system with a steering-control component that an operator can manipulate to adjust a steering angle of said steerable ground-engaging runner within a predefined range of steering angles bounded by a rightmost steering angle and a leftmost steering angle;

(j) one or more computers that directly or indirectly monitor a position of said steerable ground-engaging runner within said predefined range of steering angles;

(k) wherein said one or more computers also monitor said vehicle's speed;

(j) wherein said one or more computers operate according to steering-enhancement logic that includes a steering-enhancement mode of operation wherein said steering-enhancement logic causes said one or more computers to perform the steps of:

i. if said vehicle's speed is below a predetermined level and said position of said steerable ground-engaging runner is within a predetermined range adjacent a rightmost steering angle, affecting right-biased differential braking by actuating said right braking unit to exert greater braking effort upon said right ground-engaging driver than said left braking unit exerts upon said left ground-engaging driver, thereby allowing said vehicle to make a tighter right turn than would be possible solely through adjustment of said steerable ground-engaging runner to its rightmost steering angle; and

ii. if said vehicle's speed is below said predetermined level and said position of said steerable ground-engaging runner is within a predetermined range adjacent a leftmost steering angle, affecting left-biased differential braking by actuating said left braking unit to exert greater braking effort upon said left ground-engaging driver than said right braking unit exerts upon said right ground-engaging driver, thereby allowing said vehicle to make a tighter left turn than would be possible solely through adjustment of said steerable ground-engaging runner to its leftmost steering angle.

5. The vehicle of claim 4 , wherein:

(a) said first, right ground-engaging runner and said second, left ground-engaging runner are not steerable.

6. The vehicle of claim 4 , wherein:

(a) said steering-enhancement logic is such that, when said one or more computers causes said right-biased differential braking, the magnitude thereof is dependant upon said position of said steerable ground-engaging runner relative to said rightmost steering angle, with said magnitude of said right-biased differential braking being greater the closer said position of said steerable ground-engaging runner is to said rightmost steering position;

(b) said steering-enhancement logic is such that, when said one or more computers causes said left-biased differential braking, the magnitude thereof is dependant upon said position of said steerable ground-engaging runner relative to said leftmost steering angle, with said magnitude of said left-biased differential braking being greater the closer said position of said steerable ground-engaging runner is to said leftmost steering position.

7. The vehicle of claim 6 , wherein:

(a) said steering-control component is a steering wheel;

(b) said steering system is constructed such that each unique angular position of said steering wheel corresponds to a unique steering angle of said steerable ground-engaging runner;

(c) said vehicle comprises a steering-wheel angle sensor that senses the angle of said steering wheel and that is communicatively linked to said one or more computers; and

(d) said one or more computers indirectly monitor said position of said steerable ground-engaging runner by monitoring, through said steering-wheel angle sensor, an angular displacement of said steering wheel from its home position.

8. Steering enhancement software for a vehicle, which vehicle comprises a first, right ground-engaging runner and a second, left ground-engaging runner that are spaced from one another in directions transverse to a longitudinal axis of the vehicle; a braking system that comprises a right braking unit that, when actuated, resists motion of the first, right ground-engaging runner wherein the braking system also comprises a left braking unit that, when actuated, resists motion of the second, left around-engaging runner; at least one steerable ground-engaging runner that is spaced from the first, right ground-engaging runner and the second, left ground-engaging runner along the longitudinal axis of the vehicles steering system with a steering-control component that is movable within a predefined range of controller positions to adjust a steering angle of said steerable ground-engaging runner within a predefined range of steering angles that corresponds to said predefined range of controller positions; one or more computers that are operable to control operation of the right braking unit and the left braking unit; and one or more sensors through which the one or more computers monitor a magnitude and direction of effort applied to the steering-control component by an operator, wherein said steering-enhancement software comprises;

a computer program that is embodied in computer readable medium for loading into computer memory of the one or more computers of the vehicle;

wherein said computer program comprises steering-enhancement logic that includes a steering-enhancement mode of operation in which the one or more computers of the vehicle are caused to perform the steps of:

if the vehicle's speed is below a predetermined level and the position of the steerable ground-engaging runner is within a predetermined range adjacent a rightmost steering angle, controlling the right braking unit to effect right-biased differential braking with a magnitude that is dependent at least partially upon the magnitude and direction of effort applied to said steering-control component by an operator; and

if the vehicle's speed is below said redetermined level and the positron of the steerable ground-engaging runner is within a predetermined range adjacent a leftmost steering angle, controlling the left braking unit to effect left-biased differential braking with a magnitude that is dependent at least partially upon the magnitude and direction of effort applied to the steering-control component by an operator,

said steering-enhancement logic is further configured such that when the vehicle's speed is below said predetermined level, the position of the steerable ground-engaging runner is within said predetermined range adjacent the rightmost steering angle, and the direction of steering effort applied to said steering-control component is right, the one or more computers effect right-biased differential braking with a magnitude that increases as the magnitude of the steering effort applied to the steering control-component to the right increases; and

said steering-enhancement logic is further configured such that when the vehicle's speed is below said redetermined level the position of the steerable ground-engaging runner is within said predetermined range adjacent the leftmost steering angle, and the direction of steering effort applied to the steering control-component is left, the one or more computers effect left-biased differential braking with a magnitude that increases as the magnitude of the steering effort applied to the steering control-component to the left increases.

said steering-enhancement logic is configured such that said steering-enhancement mode of operation is disabled if the one or more computers detect a faulty signal related to the steering angle, the magnitude and direction of effort applied to the steering wheel, or the speed of the vehicle.

9. The steering-enhancement software of claim 8 , wherein:

(a) said steering-enhancement logic is configured such that said steering-enhancement mode of operation is disabled if the braking system goes into an ABS mode of operation.

10. The steering-enhancement software of claim 9 , wherein:

(a) said steering-enhancement logic is configured such that if a user communicates a predetermined set of signals to the one or more computers, said steering-enhancement logic disables said steering-enhancement mode of operation.