This study was undertaken to provide some insight into the problems associated with the design of a manually controlled vehicle. The stability of the autonomous vehicle and of the closed loop attitude control system is investigated by determining the relationship between the parameters which describe the vehicle dynamics and those which describe the human pilot. A functional relationship for pilot control is used in conjunction with the analytically determined expressions for the vehicle dynamics to determine the system transfer function. The Routh-Hurwitz criteria gives the expressions which must be satisfied for system stability. The conclusions indicate that some vehicle configurations will be easier to—control than others.