The fruits of automotive designers’ efforts are sometimes revealed at car launches with all of the ceremony of a fine-art unveiling. Trumpets sound. Spotlights glare. Curtains sweep again. The assembled motoring press discovers {that a} entrance grille has been bravely reworked or a headlight subtly reshaped. Little or no that’s genuinely new makes it to those grand reveals.
So there was a quiet uproar behind the scenes within the automotive world after Peugeot designers dared to meddle with one of many cornerstones of automotive design. Their newest idea car has been boldly described as “the way forward for driving,” and it options what the corporate calls a revolutionary advance: a sq. steering wheel.
Peugeot
Amongst acquainted futuristic staples comparable to gull-wing doorways, customizable panels, and really fancy wheels, this single characteristic of the Peugeot Polygon has already divided consultants.
The rectangular, gaming-style controller has the marginally cringe-worthy, teenage-like identify: “Hypersquare,” however its design is genuinely uncommon. It’s a thick rectangle fairly than a wheel, with 4 thumb holes that enable a number of grip types.
Its technical credentials are spectacular. The Hypersquare makes use of a speed-sensitive digital connection to the wheels and homes controls for a lot of the automotive’s onboard capabilities. The design credentials are much less clear-cut. It appears a bit like steering with a thick coffee-table e-book or an outsized smartphone.
Prime Gear Journal highway tester Paul Horrell tried the system and was advised that those that adapt most simply to the Hypersquare are usually youthful drivers who’re extra conversant in gaming controls. “In the event you’ve steered by keypad or joystick, this’ll appear wholly regular,” Horrell says.
Peugeot CEO Alain Favey believes the system might make the model related to tomorrow’s patrons. “We’re taking part in a task in the way forward for automobiles,” he says. “In 20 years, everybody might be providing this.” However Favey additionally admits that the Hypersquare “solely works if it truly is widespread.” If it isn’t, the associated fee can be too excessive to justify inclusion in mainstream automobiles.
Peugeot
Drive-by-wire steering shouldn’t be new. A handful of area of interest automobiles have experimented with it and the business has lengthy considered it as a potential future path.
Totally digital steering techniques change the standard mechanical hyperlink between steering wheel and wheels with sensors and actuators. The advantages embrace adjustable steering really feel, simpler parking, improved maneuverability, and compatibility with totally autonomous driving.
Peugeot’s system takes benefit of variable steering ratios that modify with velocity. The steering rack is pushed by two digitally managed 12-volt motors. Behind the Hypersquare, a smaller motor sends suggestions from sensors close to the rack that measure forces appearing on the wheels. This info is fed again to the motive force to simulate steering really feel, signaling grip loss or modifications in highway floor whereas filtering out undesirable vibration and torque steer.
Between the steering rack and the cabin, the one bodily connection is wiring. This simplifies dashboard and bulkhead design and makes noise discount a lot simpler. Switching manufacturing between left- and right-hand drive turns into simple. The system shouldn’t be particularly power-hungry, and a lot of the elements and software program exist already. Peugeot claims it’s cheaper and simpler than four-wheel steering.
Peugeot
At low speeds, the extraordinarily low gearing permits fast, simple parking maneuvers. Full lock requires lower than a single flip of the controller, in contrast with roughly three full turns of a conventional steering wheel.
At greater speeds, solely small inputs are wanted to regulate the automotive’s trajectory. Peugeot guarantees a “distinctive feeling of hyper-agility,” though Horrell discovered the conduct might grow to be unpredictable throughout transitions, comparable to braking from excessive to low velocity whereas cornering.
Automotive historians will level out that squared steering wheels are usually not totally new. Producers have lengthy flirted with breaking the round custom. A squared-off wheel can enhance ahead visibility and keep away from banging towards the motive force’s knees.
Tesla’s Cybertruck makes use of one, and it additionally depends on drive-by-wire steering. Method 1 automobiles characteristic squared wheels too, although these resemble gaming controllers much more carefully, with hand grips, paddles, and built-in buttons. Prior to now, sq. or rectangular wheels have appeared in automobiles as assorted because the Sixties Imperial Crown and the Seventies Austin Allegro.
In actual fact, if you happen to return far sufficient into automotive historical past, it was the steering wheel itself that was as soon as new and controversial. Early automobiles had been steered utilizing a tiller. The wheel concept was launched by daring engineer Alfred Vacheron in 1894, when he fitted one to his Panhard automotive for the Paris–Rouen race. He didn’t win, however the idea shortly caught on and have become the usual. Satirically, the tiller-steered automotive that beat Vacheron and received the race was a Peugeot.
Supply: Peugeot
