Starting in 2020, BMW is going to build every model on a flexible vehicle architecture that can accept electric, plugin hybrid and internal combustion engine. Issuu is a digital publishing platform that makes it simple to publish magazines, catalogs, newspapers, books, and more online. Free Download Serial Number Test Drive Unlimited 2 System. Easily share your publications and get. Shop for Air Filters. Find out how air filters can turbocharge your engines horsepower. Shop Now. Air Filter Power. Popular Searches. A commonly held view toward selfdriving cars is that, once the vehicles become fullyautomated, a steering wheel and pedals are no longer be needed. Ford appears to. Ford Patents Removable Wheel And Pedals For Autonomous Cars. A commonly held view toward self driving cars is that, once the vehicles become fully automated, a steering wheel and pedals are no longer be needed. Ford appears to be taking an interesting approach to the idea, with a new patent that allows for removable parts that could be plopped back in with ease. You soon may be able to ask Amazons Alexa a question in your car, but if a new patent revealedRead more Read. If the future brings fully autonomous cars that leave the driver out of the process to nap or eat a sandwich, it certainly makes sense that wheels and pedals become harder to justify. Fords patent, though, seems to present the idea that a wheel and pedals would be an option for the customer. Heres how Motor. The MGA With An Attitude, MG Cars Webring Site of the Month, July 1999, do it yourself maintainance, obscene amounts of fun with your LBC. Auto Parts and Truck Part for Car and Automotive parts. Theres a right way and a wrong way to do just about everything. If youre thinking about mounting your own trailer hitch, heres where to start. According to the automaker, this system would allow there to be a steering wheel for development purposes, and enables the easy provision of a steering wheel as a customer requested option. A vehicle with this system would have a cabin with receiving niches for the steering wheel and pedals, and there would be locking points for securing the items into place. When not inside, trim pieces would hide the connection locations. In this setup, two frontal airbags would be place in place of the driver, and a sensor would detect whether the wheel was locked in or removed, Motor. Theres a similar arrangement for the pedals. Ford describes potentially using fasteners and spring loaded snap engagement for mounting the removable accelerator and brake pedal. These controls could be electronic as an alternative, too. An electric actuator operated by software programmed to simulate brake pedal resistance and restoring force is an option, according to the patent. Humans are going to need time to adapt and accept robotcars into the worldroughly one in four people are currently skeptical of the technologyso providing an option seems like a workable idea to help increase public acceptance. But a part of me hesitates at the thought of, say, a faulty locking point for the wheel. Subscribe and SAVE, give a gift subscription or get help with an existing subscription by clicking the links below each cover image. Im imagining the still skeptical of autonomy driver cruising down the road in their future self driving Ford sedan or whatever, and all the sudden, the wheel pops off. Dale Earnhardt Jr.