BMW retractable car steering wheel patent announced netizens: this is the car fitness equipment?

Car steering wheel is round, this thing is like "TV is square" as y rooted in people's hearts. But in fact, the steering wheel of most cars can never be a perfect "square circle", but some oval a little, some flat a little. Of course, there are some shaped steering wheels, such as performance cars with flat bottoms, Formula 1 cars with square shapes, and even stunt cars with just two sticks.

▲F1 steering wheel

Now, BMW is building on this even more brainstorming, and is developing a retractable and foldable steering wheel for cars.

According to BMW's latest patent application, the steering wheel looks similar to the Decepticons in "Transformers," and the patent alone reminds me of the sound of a mechanical splicing of a "kooky kooky kooky kooky kooky kooky kooky kooky kooky kooky kooky kooky kooky kooky kooky.

BMW's patent application

This is also true in practice, as the patent shows that the steering wheel uses a series of very complex hinges that can be folded from a traditional round shape into an oval shape, similar to the 'folding screen phones' that are popular in the market right now, but with a more complex mechanical structure.

According to the information shown in the patent drawings, this kind of steering wheel is just an ordinary steering wheel in its daily state. But when it gets "angry", the steering wheel will move the 12 o'clock position downward and the 6 o'clock position upward through hinges, couplings, and other structures, thus turning it into an ellipse-like shape.

So the question arises, what's the point of this steering wheel? Is it really just "fitness equipment" as the Internet puts it? Next, let's find out.

01Paving the way for autonomous driving?

I'm sure most people will focus their thoughts on autonomous driving when it comes to a retractable steering wheel. After all, Audi's AI:ME, unveiled at CES this year, features a similar 'retractable' design.

According to a report on the BMWX2forum website (BMW's fan forum), the deformable steering wheel will automatically shrink to an oval shape or be embedded directly into the center console when the vehicle is on autopilot. The goal, naturally, is to provide the driver with more room to maneuver.

▲When the vehicle realizes L5-level autonomous driving, the steering wheel will be meaningless

If you think along these lines, all future BMW models that use this kind of steering wheel will fold the steering wheel back after entering autonomous driving. In the unlikely event of a special situation that requires a human to take over, the steering wheel will automatically pop back out again, allowing the driver to operate it himself.

This shows that, compared with the "traditional steering wheel" and "no steering wheel" L5 level of autonomous driving, the deformable steering wheel has taken into account the advantages of both, and belongs to a compromise, which not only meets the driver's demand for space, but also ensures that the driver's right to know the vehicle's driving status in the event of an emergency, the driver's right to know the vehicle's driving status. The first is a compromise that meets the driver's need for space, but also ensures that people can intervene in the vehicle during an emergency.

Of course, this also means that the steering wheel is "only" capable of supporting L4 level autonomous driving.

In fact, BMW's development of autonomous driving is not much slower than Audi's. BMW has been working on autonomous driving since 2000. Since 2000, BMW has started the research and development of automatic driving, and in 2016 for the first time put forward the "ACES" strategy, the official entry into the "new four". (Electrification, Intelligence, Internet connectivity, *** enjoyment)

BMW Group Chairman Kruger divided the 2016-2025 period into three stages: the first stage focuses on promoting electrification, the second stage in the field of automatic driving to increase the R & D budget, and the third stage of the goal to become the top manufacturer in the field of high-end mobility.

▲BMW is moving step by step towards electrification

So it can be seen that if the retractable steering wheel is BMW's "paving the way" for autonomous driving, then BMW has already entered the second phase of the most critical period. Whether it's the retractable steering wheel, or the new technology that BMW is likely to introduce in the future, it's an important technical reserve for BMW to realize fully automated driving.

With the rise of new domestic car-making forces, autonomous driving seems to have become one of the trends in the development of the auto industry. In order to have a head start in this market, Google Waymo, Baidu Apollo (Apollo), Tesla, BBA, domestic manufacturers such as Azure, Xiaopeng and so on have long begun the dark position.

According to the classification of automatic driving, L3 level is undoubtedly the watershed of the whole automatic driving. After Audi, Tesla and other manufacturers bring L3-level autonomous driving to the market, the period from 2020 to 2021 is already relatively tight for other manufacturers.

02 New passive safety features?

Unlike some of the "wishful thinking" of the fans, British automotive information website Auto Express has a different opinion on BMW's foldable steering wheel. According to the site, the innovation is primarily designed to increase the safety of self-driving cars, and even safety may be the main reason why BMW developed this technology.

Professionals no less, and the perspective is just unique.

▲BMW VISION NEXT 100

In fact, it's not the first time that BMW's retractable steering wheel design has appeared in the public eye. BMW's concept car, the VISION NEXT 100, unveiled at the 2016 Munich Centennial celebrations, uses this technology. The steering wheel pops out automatically when the vehicle is started.

In my personal opinion, a folding retractable steering wheel would be more likely to be used for safety than for autonomous driving.

Taking BMW as an example, a BMW G-series chassis with Driver Assist will flash the LEDs on the steering wheel to alert the driver after taking their hands off the wheel for too long, whereas a BMW with earlier Driver Assist will vibrate the steering wheel to alert them when they change lanes without a turn signal.

Obviously, these measures are still a bit of a stretch for emergencies. If you encounter an unexpected situation and can not be avoided, the most effective passive safety equipment is the "life-saving equipment". Whether it's an automatic steering wheel recall, or folding deformation, for the driver to do something, is the kind of emergency moment of choice.

But there's still the question of how the airbag pops off if the steering wheel is automatically recovered... Well, I'm sure that if the retractable steering wheel really does have this kind of "protective function," the engineers would have solved it.

▲Previously Audi AI:ME on display on the retractable steering wheel

In fact, in 2017, Stanford University researchers have been "can automatically change the shape of the steering wheel" self-driving vehicle test. The results showed that in an emergency, people reacted faster to the deformable steering wheel than to a light-alert steering wheel.

Stanford University commented on the study: "Drivers who experienced an automated shape-changing steering wheel performed better than those who experienced an LED lighted steering wheel. That is, the use of mechanical action to sound an alert was more effective than a purely visual warning."

This approach isn't hard to understand, to take a common example from life: "Do you think you wake up faster when your cell phone alarm goes off repeatedly, or when your mom gives you a straight-up smack in the mouth?" BMW's technology falls into the latter category, and it will, of course, be gentle.

That said, BMW has a long history of innovative steering wheel design, and at the 2018 Los Angeles Auto Show, it unveiled the Vision iNext concept. The car is equipped with a picture of a rectangular steering wheel similar to that of an F1 car, which has a very unique shape.

Officially, the design is claimed to allow drivers to easily switch between autonomous and active driving modes, as well as make it easier to recognize the steering angle of the wheels, improving driving precision. Since I've never driven an F1 car, I'm going to have to default to "that's the way it's supposed to be".

BMW Vision iNext

Industry insiders have speculated that BMW's 2021 iNext won't have a retractable steering wheel, but there are no major process challenges with this design, so in theory it could be in production in just a couple of years, and not too long before it's ready for mass production.

As you can see, the difficulty with a retractable, folding steering wheel is not in the manufacturing, but in the application.

03Written in the end

Friends who often pay attention to concept cars must know that many car companies like to do is to make the steering wheel of the concept car like a "spaceship". We don't know what it can do, but it looks pretty cool.

I don't know if BMW is the first manufacturer to consider mass-producing a "retractable and foldable steering wheel," but in any case, this kind of wild idea and spirit of exploration deserves a round of applause from all of us. Even if this technology doesn't work out in the end, we haven't lost anything by it.

But if it succeeds, it's a matter of personal interest for all of us. Isn't that where all the really useful 'high-tech features' have come from over the course of the automotive industry's long history?

This article comes from the author of the automotive home car family, does not represent the views of the automotive home position.