What steering wheel would you like to see?

[drscot]

It would definitely be more comfortable and less messy with the dash. If I remember correctly SAAB 9000 did that. How would you deal with the question of what do I do with my left hand?

The stick can also serve as the accelerator moving fore and aft, and turning left or right by the obvious. The farther back against resistance the faster in reverse, and the converse forward for forward motion. Learning curve is flatter than that for a zero-turn radius mower and a joy to operate compared to the doldrums of an old fashioned tractor type mower. Elon should prototype one. He is missing an opportunity here I think. I don't know everything, but I do know Jim Bede's side stick BD5 was a joy compared to conventional thinking. It definitely would be "out of the box" thinking. Ask the few who have flown BD5's and not just the trainer like I did. Might be a fed issue but still a dream to operate. Worked wonderfully in flight.

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[drscot]

The stick can also serve as the accelerator moving fore and aft, and turning left or right by the obvious. The farther back against resistance the faster in reverse, and the converse forward for forward motion. Learning curve is flatter than that for a zero-turn radius mower and a joy to operate compared to the doldrums of an old fashioned tractor type mower. Elon should prototype one. He is missing an opportunity here I think. I don't know everything, but I do know Jim Bede's side stick BD5 was a joy compared to conventional thinking. It definitely would be "out of the box" thinking. Ask the few who have flown BD5's and not just the trainer like I did. Might be a fed issue but still a dream to operate. Worked wonderfully in flight

 

[Diehard]

The stick can also serve as the accelerator moving fore and aft, and turning left or right by the obvious. The farther back against resistance the faster in reverse, and the converse forward for forward motion. Learning curve is flatter than that for a zero-turn radius mower and a joy to operate compared to the doldrums of an old fashioned tractor type mower. Elon should prototype one. He is missing an opportunity here I think. I don't know everything, but I do know Jim Bede's side stick BD5 was a joy compared to conventional thinking. It definitely would be "out of the box" thinking. Ask the few who have flown BD5's and not just the trainer like I did. Might be a fed issue but still a dream to operate. Worked wonderfully in flight.

the risk is folks that grew up playing video games may go on autopilot and forget there is no game over on this one.

 

[Dids]

If I recall correctly, the FMVSS requires a mechanical connection between the steering-control and the steerable-wheels.

Changing the steering ratio dynamically goes against the simple mechanical failsafe that most cars use.

Speed-sensitive power-steering doesn't change the ratio, it just changes the amount of power-steering-boost based on the speed.

What I can imagine is a set of matched gears where the effective steering ratio varies depending on how close you are to the center of the steering range. It would be tricky to design, and would make doing an alignment on the car trickier than normal. However, I can imagine that working.

As a private pilot, though, the yoke is going to make me want to steer with my feet.

Nope. Infinity Q50 had fly by wire. It had a mechanical back up system in case the system failed... they recalled it because it could fail in cold weather and the concern was that the same cold would delay the mechanical linkage from engaging. While in drive by wire the mechanical linkage was not connected. This car was sold and driven in the USA.

 

[Crissa]

Infinity Q50 had fly by wire.

Wow, really?

All I really remember about them is that they filmed one of their US launch ads in the town I lived in ^-^;

-Crissa

 

[Luke42]

Nope. Infinity Q50 had fly by wire. It had a mechanical back up system in case the system failed... they recalled it because it could fail in cold weather and the concern was that the same cold would delay the mechanical linkage from engaging. While in drive by wire the mechanical linkage was not connected. This car was sold and driven in the USA.

Wow, I hadn't heard about this before:
https://www.wired.com/2014/06/infiniti-q50-steer-by-wire/#:~:text=The new Q50 is the,the wheels on the street.&text=The steer-by-wire system,immediate and long-term benefits.

I'd understood that the mechanical connection was a hard requirement in the FMVSS, but there's something to learn here.

Perhaps the mechanical backup system satisfies the requirement, assuming it engages automatically when the power fails, or something like that? The article speculates about removing the backup system, but doesn't get into the regulatory compliance issues.

 

[Dids]

Wow, I hadn't heard about this before:
https://www.wired.com/2014/06/infiniti-q50-steer-by-wire/#:~:text=The new Q50 is the,the wheels on the street.&text=The steer-by-wire system,immediate and long-term benefits.

I'd understood that the mechanical connection was a hard requirement in the FMVSS, but there's something to learn here.

Perhaps the mechanical backup system satisfies the requirement, assuming it engages automatically when the power fails, or something like that? The article speculates about removing the backup system, but doesn't get into the regulatory compliance issues.

I don't think it really needs a backup system... commercial flights are OK to put 100s of people on them and drive at 200 miles an hour without mechanical linkage... of course they also require a huge runway with no one in the way...

 

[Stuck4ger]

It's easy to say what can't be done if you limit yourself to what you know (kind of like the sideview mirror arguments). Hopefully, the CT will be way beyond that. In the old days, the Navy F-4 aircraft had single-gain nose wheel steering which was designed for tight maneuvering on a carrier deck and therefore couldn't be used for landing because it was way too sensitive. But the F-16 has a beautiful progressive gain that feels right doing a tight corner at a few mph or tracking the centerline at 150. WIth the right smarts, I, too, would be happy with a joystick with drive-by-wire that commanded turn radius at low speeds or small deflections at high speeds and lateral G for higher stick force/deflections at higher speeds. And I don't need a dang pedal on the floor, incorporate the fore/aft joystick movements into the smart cruise control throttle and braking logic. But I know that's a step too far for now so I'll be satisfied with the CT yoke steering wheel. #in_Elon_I_trust

 

[T3slaDad]

I don't want any steering wheel! #FSDawwyeeeah

I I have to have one, I really love the M3 wheel.

 

[Stuck4ger]

I don't think it really needs a backup system... commercial flights are OK to put 100s of people on them and drive at 200 miles an hour without mechanical linkage... of course they also require a huge runway with no one in the way...

They might not have a mechanical backup system but they sure have backups. Fly-by-wire flight control systems are typically tri or quad-redundant with progressively less-capable backup failure modes.

 

[Dids]

They might not have a mechanical backup system but they sure have backups. Fly-by-wire flight control systems are typically tri or quad-redundant with progressively less-capable backup failure modes.

No doubt! I didn't mean to suggest that aircraft don't need a backup system... they travel much faster and have shit brakes. I certainly want a drive by wire to have fault monitors and a back up control system. What I'm saying is I don't think mechanical linkage should be that backup system.

 

[Gvardaman]

I was thinking of the proportional steering being speed-dependent. As stated above, if you are going at highway speed, you don’t want to suddenly make a sharp right turn. If you are making a U-turn, you are likely going 20mph or less, depending on how much space you have.
I like the idea of a joystick, I always seem to picture something like the viper control stick from the old “Battlestar: Galactica”, lol!

 

[CompMaster]

I don't know what to think really. So best to give my real input would be after the new S test drive to as close to the CT. Or even better a test drive in the CT. In either case may take some time..