Within the early 2000s, BMW Forschung und Technik GmbH—the corporate’s devoted analysis and innovation division—was engaged on a challenge that actually broke the mould. In contrast to the groups targeted on refining subsequent yr’s manufacturing fashions, this group was all about exploring daring new concepts that would redefine the driving expertise sooner or later.
Certainly one of their most fascinating experiments was the Drive Stick Automobile, based mostly on the second-generation E46 BMW 3 Collection Compact. At first look, it seemed like some other 3 Collection from the period. However the second you opened the door, you could possibly see it was one thing fully totally different. Gone had been the steering wheel, accelerator, and brake pedals—staples of each automotive for many years. Of their place had been two vertical management levers referred to as Drive Sticks, positioned on both facet of the motive force’s seat.
Joystick Driving
The way in which the Drive Sticks labored was surprisingly intuitive. To speed up, you pushed each levers ahead. To brake, you pulled them again. Steering was so simple as tilting the levers to the left or proper. Gear shifts? These had been dealt with by buttons constructed proper into the levers themselves. All of this was powered by drive-by-wire know-how which meant there have been no mechanical connections—simply digital alerts controlling the automotive’s techniques.
With no steering wheel or pedals, the inside felt like a totally totally different house. The footwell was open, giving the motive force extra room, and the dashboard was cleaner and extra trendy. A display screen within the heart console changed the normal rearview mirror, and the seats had been reconfigured to make getting out and in of the automotive simpler and extra snug. It felt much less like entering into a standard automotive and extra like getting into a cutting-edge cockpit.
One distinctive function was the flexibility for the passenger to take management if wanted. In an emergency, they might seize the opposite Drive Stick and drive the automotive. It was a intelligent solution to make driving safer and extra adaptable, particularly in conditions the place a driver would possibly need assistance.
Sci-Fi, However Not Actually
For BMW fans, this would possibly all sound like one thing from a science fiction film. And in a approach, it was. The Drive Stick Automobile wasn’t designed to exchange the normal driving expertise that BMW is understood for—it was extra of a query: “What if we began from scratch?” The insights from this challenge ended up shaping applied sciences we now take as a right, like electromechanical energy steering and lively steering. These techniques introduced new ranges of precision and management to the highway whereas preserving the unmistakable BMW driving really feel.
Whereas the Drive Stick Automobile by no means made it to manufacturing, it stays considered one of BMW’s most intriguing experiments. It’s a testomony to the BMW’s willingness to discover radical concepts and take dangers within the identify of innovation. It’s additionally attention-grabbing that 25 years later, BMW and different corporations are engaged on comparable ideas inside the actual of autonomous driving, so that you gotta give BMW engineers credit score for foreseeing the longer term.
