The Future of Driver Controls

You've got good ideas but, unfortunately, not new.

Drive or steer-by-wire has been done albeit in concept cars. I haven't seen a production car with this feature yet. The one I saw on TV, I think it was Mercedes, had a small stick on the dashboard that can be moved like a joystick except it's only left and right. The angle is only 45 degrees either way which gave me goosebumps . The other car I saw (can't remember what company) had a steering wheel that had the top quarter cut off and the wheel only turned about 120 degrees to the left or right. It moved at a crawling pace but it was experimental anyway.

The rotating cab is also not new. In one recent show on the Discovery Channel (again, can't remember what company, I'm showing my age here) this car had a cab shaped like a ball and it rotated around, driver, controls, passengers and all. It was all electric too. Again, experimental.

I think the steer-by-wire is going to take some getting used to. People have gotten used to the idea of a mechanical connection to the road wheels. A solid metal bar is a lot stronger than a small wire.

"The crash was caused by a loose connection..." .

Look for information on boat steering controls. The new systems use a single toggle control. I believe it could be adapted for auto steering also. The safety aspect would be very important in auto more than boating. Some hydraulic control systems are already available with toggle control. It is just a matter of time before autos will have this system particularly if it can be developed to be cheaper than what we use now.

Lexus has it with their Advanced Parking Guiding System that parallel parks the car for you. I guess its asking too much for a driver to look over his shoulder and steer in reverse.