BERLIN: Indicate, turn on windscreen wipers, beep: Most steering wheels do more than just setting the direction of the car.
But car companies aren't stopping there, and Mercedes has also furnished these high-tech wheels with touchscreen buttons, allowing you to swipe through a menu shown in the car's cockpit. Their goal is, instead, to enable barrier-free operations for all drivers, including those who can't or don't want to speak. This is why future steering wheels will include touchscreens with sensors built in to detect where it is drivers place their hands, so as to ensure a safer driving experience.Engineers at German car parts maker ZF recently demonstrated how they envisioned the future of steering wheels.
The steering wheel of all level-three automated vehicles must be within reach of the driver at all times, meaning it cannot disappear behind the dashboard. "This way, the movement of the steering wheel can be decoupled from the wheels during automated driving, so that the steering wheel no longer turns at the same time," says Schledorn.ZF are also planning to add more sensors to their steering wheels. One would be installed to allow the car to know whether the driver has their hands on the wheel.
In its latest models, sensors in the steering wheel can check whether or not the driver is touching the steering wheel.
only use one button - the horn