Within the early 2000s, BMW Forschung und Technik GmbH—the corporate’s devoted analysis and innovation division—was engaged on a challenge that really broke the mould. Not like the groups targeted on refining subsequent 12 months’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 Sequence Compact. At first look, it appeared like every other 3 Sequence from the period. However the second you opened the door, you possibly can see it was one thing utterly completely 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 known 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 out a steering wheel or pedals, the inside felt like a very completely 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 middle console changed the standard 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 getting into a conventional automotive and extra like getting into a cutting-edge cockpit.
One distinctive characteristic was the power 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 strategy to make driving safer and extra adaptable, particularly in conditions the place a driver may need assistance.
Sci-Fi, However Not Actually
For BMW fanatics, this may 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 standard 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 with no consideration, 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 certainly 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 title of innovation. It’s additionally fascinating that 25 years later, BMW and different firms are engaged on related ideas inside the actual of autonomous driving, so that you gotta give BMW engineers credit score for foreseeing the long run.
