🛞 M4 Steering & Differentials

Cogworks Taxis keep scraping kerbs and skidding on corners. Their engineers never learned how cars turn. You will.

Engineers, Advanced. Engineer Stamp: Chassis Chief.

Lessons

1. Why cars need a differential: When a car turns, the outside wheel goes farther. So how can both be driven?
2. Ackermann steering: Front wheels should NOT point the same way when turning. Weird… but true.
3. Turning-circle lab: Can we predict the turning circle from the steering angle?
4. The diff-lock truck: Differentials have one big weakness: mud. What do off-road trucks do?
5. Design Day: The figure-eight taxi: The taxi rank is tiny. Only the best-turning taxi gets the contract.
6. Showcase: Taxi Driving Test: The examiner watches with a clipboard. Penalty points for every kerb touched!

Design challenge

Build a vehicle that drives a figure-eight inside a 1 m × 60 cm box without touching the edges.

Engineering ideas

• The Differential
• Ackermann Steering
• Steering
• Differential Lock

Standards: MS-ETS1-3, MS-ETS1-4