Controling a 12 V Throttle body servo motor

Hello guys!
I want to control the 12 V servo motor that is responsible for the electric throttle in my car.
In fact, I want to use a potentiometer in order to turn the servo motor of the car.
Is it possible for an arduino to control such a servo? Do I need a motor control shield? (I plan to supply the servo with 12 V from the vehicle batteries)
Finally, do I need to connect arduino ground pin with the negative of the car's batteries?
Thank you in advance.

Any ideas as to what kind of motor it is?

kf2qd:
Any ideas as to what kind of motor it is?

What else would we need to know apart from that it is a 12V servo motor?

What else would we need to know apart from that it is a 12V servo motor?

What type of control signals and control protocol it uses. Don't assume it operates the same as an RC hobby servo.

k3nshin, Please don't do anything to your car's electronic throttle. If you make a mistake and you have an accident that hurts or kills someone, you will be in a big trouble.

jeffmorris:
k3nshin, Please don't do anything to your car's electronic throttle. If you make a mistake and you have an accident that hurts or kills someone, you will be in a big trouble.

I have a spare accelerator pedal and throttle body to test, so extensive testing will be done first before trying it on my car. I am converting to a standalone ECU and i have to find a solution for this... from a short search, i found another 2-3 threads in the forum regarding the exact same subject, but no information that would help unortunately.
This is what i am looking into :

Something that could help : http://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/automotive-ics/powertrain-ics/powertrain-h-bridges-for-electronic-throttle-control/channel.html?channel=db3a30431f848401011f8a0267e108af

k3nshin:
I have a spare accelerator pedal and throttle body to test, so extensive testing will be done first before trying it on my car.

Just because you will do extensive testing outside of the car, doesn't mean it will work the same -inside- the car. A car engine bay is a very unforgiving environment; you may get it to work well for a period of time, but if something happens, and the throttle sticks wide open, or something else weird occurs, and it causes you to go out of control causing an accident (with death or injury to another party) - your insurance company, once they find out that you modded the car (and they -will- find out) - well, let's just say the expensive bills will be the least of your worries.

...and don't think "Oh, if I go out of control, I will just do this and that, and something else..." - hopefully you will, but I know from experience, having had my accelerator pedal get stuck on me (from a %&%! floor mat) - and coming up on a red light - yeah, things don't work out how you plan or think they will...

If this is for a vehicle being used on a track, off-road, or away from other vehicles or such - ie, a controlled running environment - then go for it; but you may want to think twice about this if it's for your daily driving vehicle...

Thanks for the advice but i am far from a little child. Nothing is going to be in the engine bay anyway. The throttle pedal will remain where it is meant to be, under my right foot, and the throttle body where it was meant to "live" too, in the hood. The controller is the whole thing. I would apreciate it if you could help with this project.

It's PWM driven btw

If the "servo" in the throttle body is just a brushed motor (per the mention at the Infineon site), then controlling the position with pot might be fairly easy. Does the throttle plate have any position feedback?

Thanks for the advice but i am far from a little child

No doubt... but then the big guys still get it wrong....

zoomkat:
If the "servo" in the throttle body is just a brushed motor (per the mention at the Infineon site), then controlling the position with pot might be fairly easy. Does the throttle plate have any position feedback?

Thanks for your help. Yes the plate has two position sensors. Both are 5V, but their range is reversed, at a given position the feedback from the two position sensors has to "match". This is the principle. The accelerator pedal features 2 potentionmeters.

Anyone...?

I know this is old but did you control the servo with an arduino or at least found any info out regarding this topic