Nissan Steer-by-wire Options

[richee3]

First things first, a link to click. Clicky!

Spark notes: Similar to removing the throttle cable for drive by wire, Nissan is disconnecting the steering wheel from the steering rack. They're replacing the physical connection with a multitude of sensors and two electric motors. But don't worry, just to make sure everything is twice as expensive as it needs to be, they're making sure that the steering wheel can still be connected to the steering rack via a clutch.

Your thoughts?

I feel like this will dull the driving experience for those of us who enjoy it, drive manufacturing costs up which will of course be passed along to the consumer, add weight, and provide more things to break.

[soulshadow]

I used to have a Prius 2011 model which was electric powered on everything down to the frame. My thoughts is that the price does not reflect the true value of the car even if the amount of money you spend on gas is less than an average car.

Will it add more weight and price? well of course! Its going too especially since its going on a Infiniti and it is not like regular people are going to buy brand new luxury cars, so scratch that off the list.

An issue that will potentially arise would be people trying to take advantage of the electronic controls and of course crash their cars complaining it went out of control.

As far as driving experience goes, a boat / plane has almost no feel to the steering controls, however you can always imitate that feel like on a PS3 controller with the rumble shock or vibration motors to bring a "Realistic "feel. I think the clutch is only their so that in case something happens you still have manual control over the car.

[Box]

I hate electronic throttle, and I hate electronic steering. More **** to go wrong. Overly complicated solutions to problems that didn't need solving.

[MotoFoo86]

I feel that they are shooting themself in the foot with this one. Especially on "driver's cars". By their own admissions in that article, "even on rough roads the handling will not be disturbed" basically that means to me, that all the minute jerks and tugs we experience through our current steering racks letting us know what's going on at our front contact patches is gone. It will feel like playing a race sim on a computer, and i for one hate the idea. I don't believe i've ever had a steering wheel jerked out of my hands, and they seem to portray that because of those small jerks on the wheel i am somehow a less safe driver. I'm also a big proponent of "if it's not broke don't fix it" while i could definitely see the application on very large, or heavy, or exquisitely luxurious vehicles the steering in our small sporty cars plays a large experience in our driving excitement. If you've ever drive a car with a very dead feeling steering system you'll know what i'm getting at.

i'm normally a fan of Nissan, but on this one i have to hang my head in shame.

[mkernz22]

Even though I'm 20 and kind of growing up in this new age of technology for cars, I can truly say that I will never, ever own anything that is drive-by-wire, brake-by-wire, steer-by-wire or whatever else they come up with. I hate electronic stability control and all that stuff cause you don't get to feel the road or the car. It takes away that feeling of being one with your car. They say this makes everything better, but in some sense it really doesn't at all. I've heard about the steer-by-wire for a while now, but it's a shame to see it's going into cars so soon.

I can't even imagine what cars will be like when I'm 50+. I'll probably be that old guy on the roarin down the road with some old muscle car at that point.

[Box]

ESC is ok, as you can usually turn it off when you want to and it does help reduce the chance of an accident. Like traction control, and ABS. Provided you can turn them off, all is good. ABS plus loose surface isn't fun, for instance.

[SwissFerdi]

ABS plus loose surface isn't fun, for instance.

....yes it is.

This post has been edited by SwissFerdi: Nov 30, 2012 - 11:03 PM

[mkernz22]

ESC is ok, as you can usually turn it off when you want to and it does help reduce the chance of an accident. Like traction control, and ABS. Provided you can turn them off, all is good. ABS plus loose surface isn't fun, for instance.

Well I mean you can't turn it off in our cars..................so I just deleted the system.....

[95CelicaST]

It would be a complete disconnect between the driver and the car. Take away direct steering feel and input and what do you have? Garbage.

[Box]

It would be a complete disconnect between the driver and the car. Take away direct steering feel and input and what do you have? Garbage.

Exactly. Bad enough cars have drive by wire now... They're already experimenting with cars that drive themself. Hell at that point might as well take public transportation.

[njccmd2002]

HOLD ON TO YOUR OLD CARS PEOPLE....

[kurt95gt]

Wow
What a waste of time an money.

[6strngs]

Electronic steering has been around for a few years already. GM uses it on pretty much all their cars, and toyota has it in several including the yaris that I drive for my delivery job. I like that Nissan is actually putting a back-up in in case it fails, the electronic steering fails in GM's all the time and you just can't steer the car, they always seem to go out after parking and it just won't work the next time you get in the car though, I haven't heard of anybody losing control while driving... yet. I believe they were first used on hybrids because, well when the gas engine shuts off you would lose power steering, power brakes, air conditioning, water pump, etc. so they had to make all that stuff electronic so it would work with either the gas or electric engine going. It also makes it easier for the computer to control things like traction control, stability control, etc. basically cars are moving more and more away from the driver driving it and more towards a computer driving the car, which is a probably a good thing for the majority of the population because 99% of the people on the road don't know how to drive and have probably never driven fast in their lives. Better get used to it too because the government is putting more and more laws in place to move things that way too, for example, all cars 2012 and newer MUST be equipped with 4-wheel ABS and traction control (which means they will ALL be throttle-by-wire), and all cars after 2014 are going to be required to have back-up cameras.

[Box]

In the case of sports cars though they give you option to turn off the assists when you want to at least. I do agree, driver tests should be more stringent. Like Finland, then everyone on the road is a rally driver for the most part.

[soulshadow]

People need to make improvements for flying cars, or cars that can go back to the future...

[richee3]

Steer by wire was news to me when I heard about it a couple of weeks ago. I hadn't considered hybrids and the engine not running, very good point there. However, owning a Nissan and learning more about their cars, I definitely trust Toyota to build a steer by wire system than Nissan.

I hate drive by wire in my dad's truck and my stepmom's Camry, but I hardly notice it in my 350Z. I definitely don't look forward to the day when virtually everything on a car is automated, even though I know we're heading there fast. I'd love to be proven wrong about steer by wire, and have it be superior to the current manual setup but I don't think I'll enjoy it. You know what they say about opinions...

As far as things to break, I'm sure the sensors on the steering wheel will be a simple potentiometer. Same as the volume knob on several radios. I'm concerned about the reliability of the rest of the system- a flaw in the computer's programming, motors wearing out, corroding connections in the plugs, etc. Of course there will be some instances of people texting and rear-ending a semi then blaming the steering.

In my opinion, it's bad enough to take away the feel of the road. In bad weather, freezing rain for instance, I've been able to gauge traction through the steering wheel. Replace my direct connection with motors and suddenly I've slid off the road because I couldn't feel that traction was decreased. Even worse than that would be if the auto makers decided to imitate the feel of the road like mentioned above. My 4,000 lb car is not a Playstation, it's not a toy or some game, people's lives depend on me to use good judgement and I base several judgements on how my car is responding to my actions, if that makes any sense.

[Box]

I just don't see how removing the "feel of the road" from the steering can be a good idea. That's my main concern.

[njccmd2002]

I just don't see how removing the "feel of the road" from the steering can be a good idea. That's my main concern.

make a hole in the floor board, and take your shoes of while going 50, then you can still feel the road.

[Special_Edy]

I think it will be a positive thing for 100% of drivers everywhere, because the 95% of drivers who need it will be less likely to smash into the other 5% of us.

If you think about it, it opens a lot of doors for further improvements in handling.
Progressive steering, so you dont have to turn the steering wheel as far in a parking spot to cut the wheels the same distance. Or on the highway the wheels turn only half as far as you turn the steering wheel, this would make the steering twice as accurate and people much less likely to swerve.

How about incorporating the ABS, traction control, ECU and steer by wire systems together? The car would have the sensory input to anticipate traction loss or unsafe turns and correct throttle, braking and steering to correct for the drivers mistakes. You may complain about this but once again it will be beneficial 95% of the time.

And finally it opens the door for autopilot. Cars are already equipped with front collision avoidance systems, pretty soon they will be steering themselves down the freeway

This post has been edited by Special_Edy: Dec 2, 2012 - 1:26 PM

[Box]

I just don't see how removing the "feel of the road" from the steering can be a good idea. That's my main concern.

make a hole in the floor board, and take your shoes of while going 50, then you can still feel the road.

Yabba Dabba Doo!