Improving the Driving Feel

Over the course of the race, four of the team members had the opportunity to drive the car over the course of a week. This page is for them to document what it felt like to drive the car, what was good and what was not so great from both an electrical and mechanical standpoint, in order to improve for future cars.

Issue	How it affected the driving of the car
Cruise Control Missing	Most vehicles will have cruise control, which is critical to driving efficiency. Without cruise control it is very difficult to avoid spikes in current draw throughout the race
Speedometer Cutout	For the majority of the race the speedometer would only read 0. This made it difficult to follow pace with the lead and chase vehicle, and stay within speed limits when the limit changes.
Small Current and Voltage Readout	With the speedometer being unusable, and the battery gauge not being functional, often the drivers would read the voltage and the current readouts, however they were very small, and difficult to read from the drivers side. Consider integrating it fully into the display.
No Audible Turn Signal Click	Without an audible turn signal click, it is difficult to know when the turn signal is left on, and often it would be left on far after the turn.
Radio Communications	The push to talk radio button was very easily tangled in the steering column, and then could interfere with turns. consider integrating push to talk button on the steering wheel.
Backup Camera	The backup camera screen was quite small, and while it was good enough to meet regulations, it is very difficult to use.
Pre-charge Signal	In order to know if pre-charge has gone, the driver must wait to hear the sound of the relay. This was unreliable, and it would be beneficial to have a visual signal on the display to know if pre-charge has finished.
Fault Indication from Driver Display	There is no way currently know as a driver when the car would fault, nor what kind of it was, until the car would stop. Consider having a way to display the type of fault on the drivers display
Brake stability	At speed, the car tended to pull driver's side (i.e. incoming traffic) under hard braking conditions. While not an "uncorrectable" pull, this was definitely scary for the drivers
Brake travel	The travel of the brake pedal started out ASC as a binary "brakes" or "no brakes" switch, with no in-between state. While this did resolve itself after fixing a caliper and bleeding the system, there is still room for improvement as this impacts the braking feel