Mercedes-Benz will launch its first car equipped with by-wire steering next year, allowing it to replace the traditional steering wheel with a yoke.
The system replaces the mechanical connection between the steering and the front wheels with an electronic connection – the ‘wire’ – that is said to provide a quicker responses and a greater bandwidth of feedback.
For example, the steering quickens at low speeds to reduce the physical effort required for manoeuvres such as parking.
And because the wheel no longer needs to be spun through multiple revolutions to achieve full lock, Mercedes has done away with the traditional wheel.
It is now a flat-bottomed yoke similar to that in the recently updated Lexus RZ, which is due to become one of the first cars sold in Europe with a steer-by-wire set-up.
This new design is said to free up knee-room, making it easier to get in and out of a car, as well as provide a better view of any interior display screens.
Mercedes claimed the new set-up also brings a more natural interaction with the rear-wheel-steering set-up available on its flagship models, such as the S-Class and EQS saloons.
The latter has been used as a test mule for the system, and given that it's due a facelift within the next year, it could be the first Mercedes model to be equipped with the new technology.
Mercedes added that the removal of the physical linkage between the steering wheel and the front end of the car “almost completely” removes the feel yielded by rough road surfaces.
The set-up is backed by a second (redundant) group of sensors and cables, meaning you can still steer the car in the event that its main steer-by-wire system fails.
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Literally no one asked for this, and when Tesla tried it it was roundly rejected. Cars are not aircraft, as much as it might surprise some people.
We trust airplanes to do it, and they do it for the same reason: it's better than mechanical one.
When ABS was introduced the same people complained it's useless and they can do it better and safer.
Trust me: machines can do it better.
Unsurprisingly, an awful lot of people here talking as though road accidents never happen, that they are better drivers than everyone else, that they could never have a sudden health issue or be hit by a bit of dangerous debris they couldn't see coming...It's gratifying that Autocar is populated by so many Supermen, but for the rest of us, these advances may be quite helpful at some unpredictable point in the future.