When Are Drive by Wire cars going to come out?

[OutHouse]

Ive heard a while back that drive by wire cars were being considered. I think it would be cool! Its safe the airlines have been using fly by wire for years.

granted learning to steer a car with joystick will take some getting use to, but maybe the will keep the steering wheel.

 

[RGN]

The current design for the Corvette is drive by wire...

 

[OutHouse]

really? thats cool

 

[KEV1N]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I always thought fly-by-wire was required for planes because there were too many systems and surfaces for a human to control, in the example of a Stealth Bomber. I can see maybe having a control system in a car to prevent it from hitting other cars or running off the road or something, but that would involve implentation of other things, like sensors and such. I think cars are not complicated enough to warrant the cost of a fly by wire system.

I find myself extra chatty when I have to study for finals.

 

[notfred]

"fly-by-wire" is a reference to the fact that the controls are hooked up electrnically to the actual control surfaces on the airplane, rather than mechanically. It has abolutely nothing to do with the shape of the controller.

And frankly, I see no advantage to having a drive-by-wire car, it's added expenses, added complexity, more things that can break, and the car won't handle any better.

 

[LordEdmond]

BMW have drive by wire

 

[joelmold]

heh, this topic is similar to some of the things my work does.

Today they have a fully automated Infinity Q-45 doing test drives. The car controls steering, acceleration, braking, everything!

Check out www.path.berkeley.edu

 

[Phunktion]

Fly by wire controls became necessary because of the size, force, and speed involved in a modern jet airplane.. a human can simply not keep control as easily and safely with mechanical controls and in the case of 747's a truly all mechanical steering setup would be ludicrous, not to mention extremely tough to implement safely..

Plus auto-pilot and computer assisted landings are always nice

Edit: Speed added to the equation..

 

[notfred]

KEV1N is right, planes are fly-by-wire because when the pilot pushes left on the stick, the plane has to calculate "based on the current attitude and velocity, to attain the amount of the bank that the pilot wants, these 6 surfaces should be adjsuted by this amount"

many modern airframes are really highly unstable without precise calculations to keep them flying straight, and that's why they have computers controling the things with pilot input.

In a car, you're going to turn the wheel left, and the car only has one option for what to do - turn the wheels left.

 

[OutHouse]

i can see some added cost but i dont see how it can be more things to break. your replacing the steering system not adding to it. fly by wire is very reliable and much easier to maintain or it wouldnt have replaced the mechanical cables, gears pulleys... in a conventional steering sytem.

 

[GL]

There's a European auto manufacturer with a drive-by-wire prototype that they want to bring to market. It was test driven by a Toronto Star car reviewer and he said it was quite awkward, but would be better nonetheless. Instead of a steering wheel, it had two joystick type handles that moved up and down in opposite directions of eachother (to simulate somewhat of a wheel-turning feel). Although they could be adjusted, he found the default controls to be overly sensitive. A slight "turn" to the right would produce the same results as a full 360 degree turn of a steering wheel.

Apparently GM has been claiming this is their prototype too because they designed part of the car (I don't think it was any of the drive-by-wire stuff). Let me try to dig up the article.

Update
Found It!

 

[notfred]

<< i can see some added cost but i dont see how it can be more things to break. your replacing the steering system not adding to it. fly by wire is very reliable and much easier to maintain or it wouldnt have replaced the mechanical cables, gears pulleys... in a conventional steering sytem. >>



The steering systems in a plane are a lot more complicated than in a car. In a plane, at minimum, you've got 9 surfaces on the plane that have to move, some of which have to move in oppostition to others (ailerons).

In a car, you've got a big metal pipe and a gear, basically.

 

[darthmango]

Many cars are drive by wire. For example, all VW's since '99.

 

[BigSmooth]

On MotorWeek a few weeks ago, they showed one of Mercedes' working drive-by-wire prototypes. Supposedly, it is much more intuitive to drive that way once you get used to it. The problem is that for safety's sake, governments will probably require redundant mechanical controls "just in case" the electronics systems fail. Mercedes was claiming they could have redundancy within the electronic systems so this would not be an issue, but they have to convince policymakers of that.

I'd say the chances of a drive-by-wire car coming to market soon is pretty slim, but it will happen eventually.

 

[Phunktion]

People that hold their steering wheels all the way out to the direction they are turning on the steering wheel ruin the conventional systems quickly and I know a lot of people that do this.. Drive by Wire will be a godsend to keep morons from ruining their steering pumps constantly.. I say it's the next logical step..

 

[Gunbuster]

Drive by wire lets you put the wheel (or stick) and pedals anyplace, seat no longer needs to move since the wheel and pedals can, dont need to design the steering linkage and pedals not to crush you in a crash because they are not linked directly

 

[notfred]

<< People that hold their steering wheels all the way out to the direction they are turning on the steering wheel ruin the conventional systems quickly and I know a lot of people that do this.. Drive by Wire will be a godsend to keep morons from ruining their steering pumps constantly.. I say it's the next logical step.. >>



Great, so rather than teaching people to drive correctly, we should just cater to people who don't know what they're doing behind the wheel.

 

[OutHouse]

good points Gunbuster. this might get the designers to think outside the box for car design.

 

[royaldank]

I'm not sure you'll see the steering wheel replaced anytime soon. They've tried that before. If you have a joystick of some kind, it is much easier to disrupt than a steering wheel. Imagine the guy next to leaning back to the back seat to grab something and he acidently bumps into you. The joystick would be very easily knocked around or moved, whereas a steering wheel wont. Sure, it might turn a bit, but not as a joystick type mechanism would.

 

[ericb]

Drive by wire will be necessary to truly automate (computer controlled) the car. I personally want to get in, tell the computer to drive me to work and sit back and read.

 

[Cyberian]

<< People that hold their steering wheels all the way out to the direction they are turning on the steering wheel ruin the conventional systems quickly and I know a lot of people that do this.. Drive by Wire will be a godsend to keep morons from ruining their steering pumps constantly.. I say it's the next logical step.. >>

I never heard of this problem. Do you have any more information about it?

 

[quoc]

<< Many cars are drive by wire. For example, all VW's since '99. >>



This is true, a lot of cars are drive by wire. My VW Passat is drive by wire.

Of course, currently this is really only used to replace the throttle electronically, using sensors to measure pedal position. There are definitely advantages to this. To have steering also controlled electronically is another story, and would definitely be interesting.