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A comment on Tesla Intrigue Deepens with Musk's Twitter Barrage. Parent comment

Re:Tesla Intrigue Deepens with Musk's Twitter Barrage by phkahler on Monday April 04, 2016 @10:32AM (#11422147)
With the oblong steering wheel they mentioned and spaceship like controls, I'm thinking they just don't want the steering wheel sticking up in front of that awesome view. Perhaps an airplane-line yoke? There is the problem of the steering wheel needing to go multiple revolutions, but there do exist some variable ratio steering systems where you might limit rotation to +/-90 degrees but the wheel travel is speed dependent. There are options besides fully autonomous.

As for the lack of instruments, I rarely look at much other than the speedometer while driving, and if the car can read the signs and help regulate speed for me, I may not even need that. My non-Tesla car has an audible chime at 50 and 25 miles to empty, so I don't even need to look at the fuel gauge.

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Re:Tesla Intrigue Deepens with Musk's Twitter Barrage by hinkley on Monday April 04, 2016 @11:18AM (#11422526)
My friend has a Prius and I hate driving it because the steering wheel isn't round.

Turns out the way I drive involves letting the wheel slip under my hands when going around corners, and you can't do that if the circumference of the wheel moves as it turns.

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Re:Tesla Intrigue Deepens with Musk's Twitter Barrage by knodi123 on Monday April 04, 2016 @10:42AM (#11422213)
> Perhaps an airplane-line yoke?

Is there a reason that basically NO car manufacturer has EVER made a production model with steering by anything other than a wheel and pedals?

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Re:Tesla Intrigue Deepens with Musk's Twitter Barrage by MagnumOpus on Monday April 04, 2016 @12:53PM (#11423370)
Mercedes has presented a prototype with joystick in 1999, said to have been easier to learn for beginners than steering wheels, and quicker to perform emergency maneuvers with.

They said that German legislation does not allow for cars with side-stick rather than steering wheels, and that it would be cost-prohibitive to introduce - the latter is probably no longer true...

http://www.economist.com/node/290976

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