Within the early 2000s, BMW Forschung und Technik GmbH—the corporate’s devoted analysis and innovation division—was engaged on a undertaking that really broke the mildew. Not like the groups targeted 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, primarily based on the second-generation E46 BMW 3 Collection Compact. At first look, it seemed like another 3 Collection 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 know-how which meant there have been no mechanical connections—simply digital indicators controlling the automotive’s programs.
With no steering wheel or pedals, the inside felt like a very 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 function was the power for the passenger to take management if wanted. In an emergency, they might 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 may need assistance.
Sci-Fi, However Not Actually
For BMW fans, this may all sound like one thing from a science fiction film. And in a method, 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 without any consideration, like electromechanical energy steering and lively steering. These programs introduced new ranges of precision and management to the street whereas preserving the unmistakable BMW driving really feel.
Whereas the Drive Stick Automotive by no means made it to manufacturing, it stays considered one of BMW’s most intriguing experiments. It’s a testomony to the BMW’s willingness to discover radical concepts and take dangers within the identify of innovation. It’s additionally fascinating that 25 years later, BMW and different firms are engaged on related ideas inside the actual of autonomous driving, so that you gotta give BMW engineers credit score for foreseeing the long run.
