FUNTER, a multi-functional vehicle for special purposes, has been created at The Automotive Industry Institute in Warsaw. Thanks to its innovative design solutions it combines the strength of cargo and off-road vehicles with the agility of a sports cars. This extraordinary vehicle has resulted from the work of the Polish engineers, specialists from the world of sports and academics from the Polish technical universities. The main objective of this design was to obtain a new, innovative and modular platform chassis that would enable constructing a family of vehicles by combining particular modules suitable for driving in extreme conditions.
The design team from our company was responsible for the design of a modern steering system of the vehicle. 4WS system can control both the front and rear wheels, and each axis separately. The driver is able to choose several modes of operation: wheels can be steered by the steering wheel (one or both axles), steering wheel and joystick (front steering axle steering and the rear joystick mode reversing or non-reversing-wheels to zero), or only joystick (mode reversing or non-reversing). It is possible, thanks to the functionalities, that the vehicle is steered with both axles in the same direction and the side drive – the so-called “crab steering”, or steering axles in two opposite directions with a significant reduction of the reversing radius.
The above solutions make the vehicle useful for both civil and uniformed services. Depending on the expectations and requirements the developed platform chassis may be used by: military, emergency services, commercial users (including mountain building, energy, gas, forestry, mining), and civil facilities (including penetrating or visiting hard to reach areas around the world) or even in sports (including crossing rallies/trials and Dakar type speed rallies).
