Steer-by-wire, with no physical link between the steering controls and flaps of an aircraft, is nothing new to the aerospace industry. Although prototype automobiles with this technology have been shown to the world, safety legislation prevented it from being implemented on production vehicles until now. Infiniti has released the first production version featuring a system called direct adaptive steering (DAS). According to the Japanese manufacturer, the complete technology took 15 years to develop.
In simple terms, the input that the driver feeds into the steering wheel doesn’t go to the wheels but to an actuator that drives the steering rack and turns the wheels accordingly. You might think the steering response would be slower if the driver input is first sent to another system and then to the wheels, but it´s not. If anything, the response is better. There´s no hesitation whatsoever and there´s also no effect (kickback) on the steering wheel when traversing uneven pieces of road.
Enthusiasts will bemoan the loss of steering feel but Infiniti’s engineers have spent a lot of time developing (artificial) feedback. Should the electronics fail, there’s a steering shaft with a clutch that converts to a conventional mechanical steering (for legislative purposes). This unfortunately eliminates the possible packaging advantages when considering left- and right-hand-drive vehicles.
What the system does allow is easy transition between four pre-programmed steering feel modes and also a system called Active Lane Control (ALC). Whereas some lane departure systems uses ESC to keep a vehicle in lane, ALC will only steer the wheels of the vehicle to get back in lane. Ready for autonomous driving? You bet!
