The Narrow Car Company has entered into a new collaboration with two universities and a number of component suppliers in South Wales to develop the second generation of the steer and roll control system that underpins the NARO car concept. The University of Glamorgan is working on the electronic hardware and control software for a novel steer by wire system for niche vehicles like NARO. Swansea Metropolitan University are collaborating with them to conduct the mechanical design and manufacture of the prototype system for niche car assessments in EVs and NARO. The component suppliers are providing motors, sensors, and ECUs as the building blocks for the system.

The objective of the work is to develop the solution for steering control, with work specifically targeted at meeting the certification needs with respect to failure mode protection. The system will include redundancy in the hardware and software to provide safe operation in the event of component malfunction. The project was started in June 2009 and is expected to be completed this summer. Currently hardware is being manufactured which will then be bench tested prior to vehicle trials in the summer.

This project will provide the hardware and software controls to prove the reliability of the NARO car steer and roll control system that underpins the vehicles market advantage.

Further work on the package of the vehicle has also been studied. Below are some of the shots of the design work showing vehicle from the driver’s position as we look to refine visibility and driver and passenger comfort.

We are continuing to develop the vehicle concept and will be turning our attention to the driveline in the coming months as we look into the use of electric wheel motors for propulsion, and battery and fuel cell for energy storage rather than the conventional IC engine. It is felt that the market for these car will be significantly enhanced if we can demonstrated and zero CO2 benefit at point of use.