Yes.
I was taught it as C,B,A, for clutch, brake, accelerator. Britain usually says petrol instead of gasoline so calling it a gas pedal makes less sense.
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I’m trying to wrap my head around using my left hand for the gear shifter… That would take me a bit to get used to. But at least my feet would know what to do!
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Australian here, driving on the left. Arguably gear shifting is a secondary, left handed function (apologies to left handers here) while steering with the right is more of a primary function.
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You do not understand the visceral revulsion this suggestion causes me. To be able to maneuver a vehicle around a corner, you have to turn in the wheels, hold them at that angle through the corner and then unwind the wheel. I don’t think a car that operated like that would be usable. Like, it would be funny to mod a racing sim with that and see how quickly comparisons to QWOP crop up.
Even the non-linear systems that @VeronicaConnor describes have the property that if you turn the steering wheel a certain number of degrees, you always get the same steering angle of the wheels.
Speaking of which,
Not that I would ever buy a modern BMW, but this sounds awful. I don’t want to drive cars that think they are smarter than me (traction control and ABS is about where I draw the line. Those just fix-up the accelerator and brakes such that they work more as expected rather than overriding my inputs). I’m also in the not-most-people class that will do the right thing in an emergency (I know this because I have caught slides by countersteering at highway speeds; this was on a closed, private track, the only time I’ve caught slides on public roads was in the snow).
ISTR reading that some states required drivers that had taken their tests on Model T’s to take new tests to drive cars with the standard transmissions and Clutch Brake Accelerator pedals.
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Two words: Brodie knob
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I go between left hand country and right hand country regularly (well, until COVID). The most awkward transition when shifting is that in the US you push the gears from low to high. In Japan, Australia and Ireland etc you pull the gear toward you as you shift from low to high. So it’s easy to accidentally jump from 2nd year to 5th gear. Never fun when you’re merging onto the motorway.
The turn signal (indicator) and wipers are reversed. As such I always, ALWAYS, turn on my wipers instead of the turn signal, especially while merging onto a highway from a ramp on the left, while shifting with my left.
Mine makes it into the face of a koala bear. Can’t stop seeing that, now.
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Thanks. Now that’s all I see.
I say we go back to a tiller! Steering wheel - Wikipedia. But seriously, it opens up the question of how to implement change in a product if the change has safety issues for people who have trouble adapting, even if the change might be an improvement in the long run.
But is it an improvement in the long run? So far it looks like a gimmick to me.
I was also taught not to steer hand-over-hand: it may be faster but you have a poor grip when you get to the point where you change positions. It also has a face like a koala! Yay.
Is BoingBoing where the koala-haters club meet?
They both tend to be seen in prototypes and concept cars but being abandoned before being used on production models.
It’s been done.
The Porsche 992 with rear steering is very capable at high speeds.
I’m confused – some common steering maneuvers wouldn’t be possible without doing it. How would you do a 3-point turn?
Let’s take Jalopnik.com Jason Torchinsky’s opinion with a grain of salt. He isn’t exactly a fan of new car technology. I’d say antique car brake lights are more of his thing.
And the fact it’s showing entertainment options. Because after your car has killed numerous people because they relied too heavily on the “autopilot” feature and died as a result while watching movies instead of the road, this is exactly the kind of message you want send.
As soon as I saw that steering wheel my first thought was there’s no fucking way this would meet regulations. There’s a good reason steering wheels in production cars are round or roundish.
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Yes, but this Ferrari steering wheel still has a top to hold onto, unlike the Aston Martin Vulcan, and new Tesla.
Ah. Maybe I haven’t described it well. I was taught that you kept your hands to the sides of the wheel. So, for a large turn, you moved the wheel through sixty degrees with one hand then sixty degrees with the other. The thing you weren’t supposed to do was to move the wheel until your hand goes over to the other side: this sounds hella unnatural, but it is easier to do when you are looking over your shoulder. But it does mean you are less able to resist if the steering wheel kicks when a tyre hits something.
I don’t now if someone just makes this safety stuff up. The Road Research lab in the UK used to do experiments where people drove in endless circles or figure of eights, and a guy in white coat with a clipboard used to count all the near misses. I can’t see our government doing that now: accidents are there to cull the weak.
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I think the next step is to skip the ability to pair with Bluetooth controllers and just put a d-pad and buttons directly in the wheel. Maybe even the ability set it to “GTA Mode” and control the car solely from the built-in controller. Of course, that’s an extra $15,000.
I think this is the crux; the factors involved in steering can be just fine any number of different ways, but it’s the degree of change from what people are generally used to that matters.
