Ford is following different automakers in creating a steer-by-wire system, a just lately found patent submitting exhibits.
The submitting in query was printed by the USA Patent and Trademark Workplace (USPTO) Nov. 19, 2024, however was submitted by Ford simply over two years earlier, on Nov. 14, 2022. Nevertheless it offers not with steer-by-wire as an idea, however with a selected perform for certainly one of these programs.
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Steer-by-wire eliminates the bodily connection between the steering wheel and the highway, that means there isn’t any inherent resistance on the wheel when the car is parked, Ford notes within the software. That might be an issue for drivers who use the steering wheel as a seize deal with when getting out and in of the automotive, as it might simply flip freely.
As described within the patent submitting, Ford’s answer is to make use of sensors to find out when a driver is about to enter or exit the car, which might sign an actuator to apply torque to the steering wheel to carry it in place in case the motive force needs to make use of it as a deal with.
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After being launched by Infiniti in 2013 on the Q50 sedan, steer-by-wire expertise has regularly obtained extra curiosity from automakers. Toyota has developed its personal system, which is at the moment used within the Lexus RZ electrical crossover in markets outdoors the U.S., together with a steering yoke. A 2023 patent submitting hinted that Toyota was contemplating bringing this technique to the U.S. as effectively.
The Tesla Cybertruck additionally makes use of steer-by-wire, and Apple filed a patent software for a system of its personal in 2019, as a part of the tech large’s now-defunct EV undertaking.