Within the early 2000s, BMW Forschung und Technik GmbH—the corporate’s devoted analysis and innovation division—was engaged on a undertaking that actually broke the mould. In contrast to the groups centered on refining subsequent 12 months’s manufacturing fashions, this group was all about exploring daring new concepts that would redefine the driving expertise sooner or later.
Considered one of their most fascinating experiments was the Drive Stick Automotive, based mostly on the second-generation E46 BMW 3 Sequence Compact. At first look, it regarded like another 3 Sequence from the period. However the second you opened the door, you can see it was one thing fully completely different. Gone had been the steering wheel, accelerator, and brake pedals—staples of each automotive for many years. Of their place had been two vertical management levers known as Drive Sticks, positioned on both aspect of the driving force’s seat.
Joystick Driving
The way in which the Drive Sticks labored was surprisingly intuitive. To speed up, you pushed each levers ahead. To brake, you pulled them again. Steering was so simple as tilting the levers to the left or proper. Gear shifts? These had been dealt with by buttons constructed proper into the levers themselves. All of this was powered by drive-by-wire expertise which meant there have been no mechanical connections—simply digital indicators controlling the automotive’s techniques.
And not using a steering wheel or pedals, the inside felt like a totally completely different house. The footwell was open, giving the driving force extra room, and the dashboard was cleaner and extra trendy. A display within the middle console changed the normal rearview mirror, and the seats had been reconfigured to make getting out and in of the automotive simpler and extra snug. It felt much less like entering into a standard automotive and extra like coming into a cutting-edge cockpit.
One distinctive characteristic was the power for the passenger to take management if wanted. In an emergency, they may seize the opposite Drive Stick and drive the automotive. It was a intelligent technique to make driving safer and extra adaptable, particularly in conditions the place a driver would possibly need assistance.
Sci-Fi, However Not Actually
For BMW lovers, this would possibly all sound like one thing from a science fiction film. And in a means, it was. The Drive Stick Automotive wasn’t designed to switch the normal driving expertise that BMW is thought for—it was extra of a query: “What if we began from scratch?” The insights from this undertaking ended up shaping applied sciences we now take with no consideration, like electromechanical energy steering and lively steering. These techniques introduced new ranges of precision and management to the highway whereas preserving the unmistakable BMW driving really feel.
Whereas the Drive Stick Automotive by no means made it to manufacturing, it stays one in every of BMW’s most intriguing experiments. It’s a testomony to the BMW’s willingness to discover radical concepts and take dangers within the title of innovation. It’s additionally fascinating that 25 years later, BMW and different corporations are engaged on related ideas inside the actual of autonomous driving, so that you gotta give BMW engineers credit score for foreseeing the longer term.
