ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,491,939, issued on Dec. 9, was assigned to TOYOTA JIDOSHA K.K. (Toyota, Japan).
"Vehicle steering support device" was invented by Shigeru Washino (Toyota, Japan), Shoichiroh Morioka (Iwakura, Japan) and Hiroaki Kataoka (Toyota, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A steering support device including: a torque applying device configured to apply control torque to a steering transmission system between a steering wheel and a steered wheel; a steering torque sensor provided in the steering transmission system between the steering wheel and the torque applying device; and a control unit configured to determine that the driver is not holding t...