full steering wheel?

[Greg]

Well hopefully by the time it's released we won't need a steering wheel to use very often. FSD

 

[happy intruder]

A 'Joystick" would make driving so much easier: Forward/Reverse with speed and braking and then simply left/right. Have it easily moveable to use either with left or right hand as conditions or long distance relief may suggest.

I do not think a joy stick will make driving easier......it would in my opinion make the driving experience more difficult and dangerous......I was a military pilot for over 18 areas and I can tell you just a small amount of deflection or movement will make things go crazy......imagine a driver trying to use a joy stick to go through a small passage way with vehicles on either side....too much room for error......and I would like to see how off-roaders will be using it when trying to go over high rocks and really 4-wheeling it......nope, its a round wheel with a flat bottom for me

 

[Luke42]

I’m in the whole steering wheel camp but this would be cool. Only problem is most people would have a hard time learning to use their left hand or opposite for a lefty depending on the side it’s installed.

Using my left hand on an airplane yoke was no problem when I was learning to fly.

(I'm right-handed.)

That said, I fly gliders mostly now, and I prefer to use my right hand on the stick.

Either hand works. I use both hands interchangeably when driving a car.

 

[Luke42]

I doubt that it will come with a yoke. From what I am told the M3 (or Y) prototype had a yoke as well. If it is to be I will dig it. People are just so resistant to change.

My concern with the yoke is that turning it more than 90 degrees is awkward.

In airplanes, you get full left aileron by turning the yoke 90 degrees to the left -- and the sensitivity naturally varies with speed.

In a car, you get full left wheels by turning the wheel more than 360 degrees to the left -- and speed-sensitivity is simulated in software (if at all).

That's not to say you couldn't build a drive-by-wire system that could nonlinearly map a yoke's narrower input-range onto a car steering system while providing appropriate feedback. But it's harder than it looks.

If you just bolted a yoke in place of a steering wheel on a regular street car, you'd wonder who thought this was a good idea the next time you tried to park the car.

Being licensed to operate yoke, stick, and steering wheel vehicles, I can day with some certainty that making a yoke it intuitive for controlling a streetcar is harder than it looks. I can imagine it, but I've never experienced it.

 

[Luke42]

The internet seems to think the model 3 has mechanical linkage but that doesn't mean future vehicles will have it. It is not a requirement.

I thought a mechanical steering linkage was legally required by the FMVSS?

 

[Dids]

I thought a mechanical steering linkage was legally required by the FMVSS?

Nissan Q50 has a steer by wire. It has a back up mechanical linkage that supposed to engage if there is a failure.... I don't know if the back up system is required.... I do know some models use drive by wire.

 

[alan auerbach]

The more the control rotates, the rounder it should be. Aircraft bank-controls, often termed yokes (though they're just part of the yoke), can generally rotate only some 40--80 degrees cw or ccw, a fraction of a car-wheel's rotational excursions (though lock-to-lock is decreasing due to power steering).

For comfort and appearance, off-round can help sell cars, but the deviation from full round should not be as extreme as seen in aircraft.

(I've only repeated here what others have correctly indicated. If it matters, I taught ergonomics and I have a non-current commercial pilot's licence.)

 

[Debest21]

I do not think a joy stick will make driving easier......it would in my opinion make the driving experience more difficult and dangerous......I was a military pilot for over 18 areas and I can tell you just a small amount of deflection or movement will make things go crazy......imagine a driver trying to use a joy stick to go through a small passage way with vehicles on either side....too much room for error......and I would like to see how off-roaders will be using it when trying to go over high rocks and really 4-wheeling it......nope, its a round wheel with a flat bottom for me

I would like a steering wheel for sure