You know about autonomous braking and drive-by-wire; now Nissan has unveiled a ‘steer-by-wire’ of sorts – a system that gets rid of all mechanical connections between the wheel in your hand and those on the tarmac, relying on electronic signals to transmit steering inputs instead (not to be confused with electric power steering). The system could debut on Infiniti models within a year.
The company says its next-generation steering system “transmits the driver’s intentions to the wheels even faster than a mechanical system and increases the direct driving performance feel by quickly and intelligently communicating road surface feedback to the driver.” There are even Standard and Sport steering modes.
Not only that, “unnecessary road-generated disturbances” are isolated from the driver, so that on uneven surfaces, the steering wheel doesn’t fight back or jiggle about excessively. The driver gets only the feedback that he or she needs.
“Our goal is to link steering so directly to the human senses that it feels like an extension of your body,” says Takeshi Kimura of Nissan’s driving control development team. “(People) imagine our next generation steering will feel like a video game. So we give them a blind test, conventional power steering versus the new system. Invariably, they guess wrong and say that next generation steering offers a more direct and realistic feel of the road.”
Nissan has also developed what it calls a “camera-based straight-line stability system.” Using a camera mounted above the car’s rear-view mirror and pattern-recognition software, the system ‘sees’ the road lanes and subtly steers the car to keep it accurately within its lane.
It can also, Nissan says, make the necessary corrections for crosswinds or surface undulations that threaten to throw the car off its intended course, and in so doing will minimise driver fatigue on long journeys.
“It doesn’t direct you down the centre of the lane,” Kimura explains. “You can track as you choose, along the inside, the outside or the centre of the lane. Whatever track you choose, it helps you to follow it straight. But as you begin to stray it gently influences you back on course. The main benefit is straighter, smoother steering.”
Naturally, we’re skeptical of such technology (after all, we’re only human), but the company claims “high reliability” due to the presence of multiple ECUs – if one fails, another will immediately take control. In extreme circumstances, a backup clutch will operate to allow conventional mechanical connection.
Nissan is also working on an Autonomous Emergency Steering System, which automatically brakes and swerves to avoid impending collisions in situations where braking alone is not enough.
Where Adaptive Cruise Control systems typically use either radar or laser technology to monitor vehicles in front, Nissan’s system has radars mounted on the front, left and right as well as five laser scanners attached around the vehicle to check for road obstacles ahead and if there are cars approaching from the rear. It can even check for oncoming traffic in the opposite lane.
The system will first beep and display a warning upon detecting an obstacle; if this is ignored it will start braking partially, and if there is still no reaction from the driver, the car will steer away from the obstacle, having made sure the coast is clear in the direction of the swerve.
Impressive stuff indeed, but of course we’ll have to wait and see if the developments will come to fruition. Meanwhile, watch the video below to learn more about the Autonomous Emergency Steering System.
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cheh…hyundai and kia has such tech long ago la…only now the japanese have such power steering….pui!
Cmon la bro kimchis are pieces of junks homie. German are the way to go especially Volks! Koreans are just a bunch of copy cat and nothing more! Why I know? Cause I just sold both my sonata and got a VW jetta. Better in every way bro. Japs are still years behind Vw.
Dude.
Its like saying a ferrari is better than a proton.
We all know that. 5 series is better than a vios in every way except the price.
A vios is better than a 9 year old kancil.
High tech is a blessing and sometimes its also a curse. Its a personal choice but myself won’t have the balls to own a car that comes with turbocharger, supercharger, twin clutch gearbox, direct injection all in one package for >7 years. Remember, even the best engineered machines are made by people.
how can comments like this get approved lol
Time to wake up from your K-pop fantasies
Get some facts to back you up next time
The kimchis are good, but not that good……yet
Prove?
You and your kimchi terminology. You can’t even prove logically in such technology has been existed yet.
The company that keep on innovating are Volvo, Mercedes Benz, BMW, VW and Audi.
That I know, Korean cars only got Drive-by-wire. I don’t seem to see Hyundai/Kia innovate new research on new equipments. Please La!
agreed, even drive by wire is not that technological advance, being used by many for long times, even tong sampah prtn used it since 2004 in sampah campro engine.
But this steer by wire, even existed for long time, but i think none apply it to the car yet. Since nissan had futher improve it, n make it production ready, thats good i think.
But tech has pros n cons. I think they had safety mode if electronic failure@cast away any bugs coz we dont want the car steer not according to our feedback or need@it will be another catastrophy as toyota sticking drive by wire pedal years ago. But that isolated case anyway coz other used it for long time dont have such probs.
Atleast they r trying to provide better tech to consumer.
Volvo? recently significant one is anti-roll in CX90… MB? Airmatic come after Lexus’ silky smooth! VW/Audi? Yes the state-of-the-art V12 TDI! Ya…mechanical parts are German innovation but electronic parts Japanese still have a upper hands!
too much kimchi
and all proton in their otak kosong will do is rebadge the 1980s passive rear wheel steering tech they get from Honda if they get that far before the porsche driving tun calls off the MOU.
MOU! makes me wanna laugh!
No nissan. This is a terrible idea. We would lost all the driving sensation we used to have or what nissan called “disturbance”. I don’t know if this is just me but I never felt any “Lag” from using power steering.
All those electronic gadgets are worse than useless. Emergency Steering? I wouldn’t want that to happen when I’m driving from KL to Ipoh on the left lane. I rather bang my car than flying off the cliff singing Hannah Montana. Choosing steering mode? Since when choosing your suspension settings are not enough? We are not playing need for speed on a steering controller for god sake.
If unfortunately 10 years from now all cars uses this steering system as standard, I would pay extra to get mechanical steering. I want to feel like I’m connected to the road. Now having an affair with Jarvis.
Agreed, I dun like too much tech getting in the way of driving, ABS and TRC or ESC is fine but this is actually ridiculous , although commercial airplane have used them for over 2 decades without much incident
Look , I know this is laughable, but for driving sensation , my daily 20 yr old Proton Saga manual is enough to provide the most thorough feeling …… It’s still on factory settings after all this yrs, but I still wanna ABS
just look & see…. remote control version will come out….
I not sure whether Korea car already have such technology, but in Malaysia we haven’t try have such vehicle yet.It must be very cool to have such technology in our vehicle.
this has got to be the most fantastically interesting comment in paultan.org ever
Can I have an extra steering for the back seat driver?
think forward! a steering on yr iphone will be….
Excellent technology, the sooner it is all available in all cars the better. Reduce accidents and safe lives.
Dude..you won’t need the full benefits of this system if ppl learn to drive safely and not like a maniac during rush hour!
Johnny, Johnny. Unfortunately, with the lax of enforcement, we will never be able to ‘force’ people to drive safely. Look at the AES, to me a good thing but now becoming a political issue. Where there are cameras, the motor-cyclist don’t beat the traffic lights. How many people you know have driven drunk?
Coming back to vehicle, ask anyone who have lost family members/loved ones in a collision, they might still be around if the vehicle had an Autonomous Emergency Steering System.
Technology helps, otherwise Volvo won’t be know as the safest car with all the technology. If everyone can drive safely, why many Western countries have laws for minimum air-bags, ABS etc.? Why?
why those long long time ago Japanese drive K-car without all safety feature & yet having minimum road accident? is the mentality, attitude & discipline! no doubt passive safety features will help but most of the accident caused by human error!
Its nice that the car can avoid a collision but that swerving out scares me, what if another car on the lane you swerve into is there…sure you avoid hitting the front guy but you get hit from the back or side and when hit from a certain angle could induce a spin causing you to end up hitting the very guy were trying to avoid!
I wonder if the car can make a moral decision…as in do I hit the breaks and pray to god the car stops before hitting the pedestrian or swerve out, get hit from the side and induce a spin an ultimately hitting the guy anyway….bigger damage…banged up car and jail time…as oppose to jail time only!
Better to stay focused on the road then fiddling with your smartphone.
good feature but I suspect it needs some more thought.
Interesting! So when the car decides to avoid impending collisions by changing lanes: Who will get the jail term when it runs i.e. over motorcyclists on the other lane? Kimura-san from Nissan?
Just as the automotive world is slowly (and reluctantly) starting to accept eletric power steering over conventional hydraulic systems…
I’m not exactly sure what Nissan is proposing here, with EPS we already have variable ratio, variable assist, active lane assist and crosswind and crown compensation as well as parking assist. Not to mention better efficiency from reduce engine load. The only advantage I see is packaging and more control unit/software reliance. Also I wonder how they recreate road feel synthetically, there are just too many variables involved to communicate accurate tactile feedback of the road surface ahead of you.
i doubt regarding advantage on packaging coz the system still include gud ‘ol mechanical steering column and racking which will only be engaged via clutch juz in case the ecu goes haywire..
my guess is it’s there to compliment the existing AEB by providing some sort of active collision avoidance function.. the refinement on the steering feel is just a complimentary as well to those who are highly sensitive to NVH.. those uncle & aunty would certainly appreciate such feature..
“steer-by-wire” is theoretically easier to assemble, because there’s no mechanical link between the steering wheel and the actual steering.
The engine bay can be designed different too, as the designer don’t have to take care of the steering column.
The downside: The steering MUST be fail-safe of course (duplication of critical components, redunancy).
very interested to know how they do steering test while being blind-folded…
Can i use my own Logitech gaming steering wheel? :p
This is something similar to what the modern aircraft been using nowadays called fly by wire technology. Means that no more cables, rods, mechanical linkages to move and control the aircraft for manueverability. Please read about this technology..This is not power steering what u guys thinking about.
yes alike Air Bus A380!
no matter how good these systems are, it will never replace the judgement from a vigilant driver
Everything will breakdown, i wonder what will happen if this thing breakdown? Crash!
Even monkey can drive Nissan in the future. Remember those Nicki Lauda words?
that collision avoidance is good if on your left no other vehicle and no ravine…. otherwise 6 feet under u go…
certainly if there are cars on both sides the ABS, EBD, BA will intervene.. if not certainly nissan engineers will get sued for not developing a more robust system..
Not a fan of electronics in cars. Drive by wire is horrible with its delay. Steering delay would be worse!
yeah its true, drive by wire (or any other things thats suit “by wire”) will have a response lag. youve steered to the left then only the tyre make the turn even for 1 second that will cost lives
A properly engineered drive by wire has almost zero lag. It uses predictive algorithm that measures how fast u step on the throttle to modulate the throttle plate. For those familiar with PID control systems, that predictive part is the Derivative part.
Im not being a luddite, but i agree with u. Steering delay would be a disaster. We modern humans put too much trust on electronics.
what if drive halfway my electronics go KO? my car will go straight until it hits something ^^ scary
why dont they attach a wii joystick or xbox motion controller kinect or even playstation move motion controller to navigate our car. i mean if 3 year old are good at them im sure a 60 yr old would do the same
What if our thumbs were grabbing tightly on the steering wheel and when an emergency comes the steering wheel just turns without us noticing, won’t it like, snap our finger/cause injuries?
unnecessary tech, only added reason for high tag pricey and list of thing that could go wrong.
What if your battery flat and you need to push the car?? Steering will not work. Also if say engine die for what every reason, you loose steering as well. Or the electronics of the steering fails…..
so dangerous..why take risk to put your life to electronic signal and actuator. once fail …confirm …..i will not buy car with this system.
In theory, I guess this system is better in every way than traditional rack & pinion hydraulic set up. But, what will happen when the system fails on the road? There’s 3 things that will likely happen:
1. Head on collision with oncoming traffic.
2. Fall off the road and into a cliff or sea/river.
3. Go straight into a tree or lamp pole.
somehow automaker nowadays are trying to pull off the driver-should-focus-on-the-driving and saying they’re saving life. This techie makes the driver too dependent on the car features and thought he/she has confident to drive but in reality, they don’t !
Yeah i agree with you 100%. It seems that car makers now are trying to sell more technology in the car that is separating the driver from driving the car himself. Everything on new car are now auto this, auto that and it seems that the driver now does not need to think to even drive.
I dread with the things are going now, new generation of drivers wont learn how to be alert on the road and will be too dependant on the ‘automagic’ features of the cars. What will happens is that new drivers wont learn the real skill of driving and wont know to react to emergency situation.
I support with enhancing the safety of cars but car makers should not disengage the connection of the drivers with the car. As a matter of fact, car makers should make the driver and car connect to be as one. eliminating steering vibration is NOT a good way to connect the driver and the car.
can install on my protong?
Technology is good. But it’s not supposed to make us lose vital skills. A friend of mine got so comfortable with reverse camera that he’s having a hard time reversing a car without one.
Just like the pilot of air France crashing the jet because the jet is so high tech that they lost vital basic skills.
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