Mercedes to replace steering wheel with futuristic spaceship-like yoke for its latest EV
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- German giant launches steer-by-wire tech and yoke wheel - is it legal in the UK?
Forget about going woke; Mercedes-Benz is going yoke...
The German car giant will soon fit half-size steering wheels to its flagship electric vehicle, making owners feel like they're at the controls of a spaceship rather than a family car.
It is not the first brand to offer the futuristic controls instead of a traditional wheel.
Tesla made its yoke available for Model S and Model X customers from 2021. However, the move was hugely criticised for a combination of practical usability issues and limited customer demand.
Mercedes believes its system won't succumb to the same fate as its US rival, though.
That's because its engineers have combined it with a new electronic steering setup - but is it a case of fixing something that wasn't broken in the first place?
A yoke steering wheel is a non-circular steering control, often resembling a joystick or aircraft control wheel, with a U or T-shaped design.
For those of a certain vintage, it should remind you of the steering wheel in the popular 1980s series Knight Rider featuring David Hasselhoff as Michael Knight with his talking car, KITT, which had a similarly minimal steering unit.
F1 steering wheels are also a similar shape.
Mercedes-Benz will make its controversial cut-down version available for its heavily updated EQS EV limo, which is due to arrive in 2026.
The traditional wheel centre with the Mercedes emblem, airbag unit and horn is the contrasted by an almost rectangular wheel, with a bowed bottom section and not upper loop at all.
Controls for the audio settings, cruise control, hands-free phone operation and more are located across two panels - as with a modern conventional wheel - though the shape of the rim provides only enough room for the hands to be placed at 9 and 3 o'clock positions.
The futuristic half wheel is attached to an all-new 'steer-by-wire' system as Mercedes becomes the first German brand to introduce an electronic-only steering setup.
It is part of the company's move towards 'Level 3' automation: this is the self-driving stage that allows driving-assistance features in a vehicle to handle most tasks under specific conditions - such as speed and steering during slow-moving motorway traffic - though the human driver must be ready to take over the system at request.
Steer-by-wire adjusts the weight, speed and feedback of the steering depending on the how fast the car is moving and the turning angle required.
It does so using a combination of electronics, sensors and small motor at the base of the steering wheel.
This allows the system to calculate how much steering angle is required and recalibrates the rack so the driver never needs to fully rotate the yoke.
For example, when carrying out low speed manoeuvres - think three-point turns and parallel parking - the system adjusts so the car’s wheels can turn from lock-to-lock with as little as a half turn of the cutaway steering wheel.
As such, there's no need for full rotations, which would typically require the driver to handle an entirely circular wheel rim and spin the wheel quickly.
Later in the same journey, when the owner takes the car on a fast flowing scenic drive, the steering setup adjusts so the same amount of rotations in the wheel allow for smooth, controlled changes of direction.
This lack of adjustability was the flaw with Tesla's yoke introduced almost half a decade ago.
Tesla linked the bold steering wheel shape to a traditional mechanical system with a fixed steering ratio, causing a practicality headache for users who were left clutching for a wheel rim as they frantically tried to spin the yoke fast enough to change direction at low speeds.
The US brand has since introduced a steer-by-wire setup for Cybertruck, though a yoke wheel is not available for its largest and most expensive vehicle.
Mercedes says its system's flexibility not only improves the steering dynamics and ease of use; it will give drivers a better view of Netflix when on the move too.
'Steer-by-wire is another big step towards the mobility of tomorrow, and we’re proud that we will be launching such a system in 2026,' explained Markus Schäfer, chief technology officer for development and procurement.
'The technology enables a unique customer experience that goes far beyond steering alone. In combination with Level 3 conditionally automated driving, it will enable an even more immersive entertainment experience in the medium term.
'That’s because the flat steering wheel provides a better view of the display when streaming your favourite show, for example.'
Safety concerns
Where concerns have previously been raised with steer-by-wire systems is safety, especially if there are electrical gremlins that trigger it to stop operating as it should - potentially leaving drivers out of control.
Mercedes says it has combated this with its own fail safes developed while covering over one million kilometres (621,000 miles) in lab tests and another million km racked up at proving grounds.
Its steer-by-wire setup 'relies on a redundant system architecture in addition to high-precision sensors and high-performance control units,' it explained.
'This means that there are basically two signal paths and thus twice the number of actuators required, as well as a redundant on-board data and power supply. This always ensures steering ability.
'Even in the most unlikely event of a complete failure, lateral guidance is still possible thanks to rear-axle steering and targeted wheel-specific braking interventions via ESP [Electronic Stability Program].'
Another complaint with steer-by-wire is that it lacks the consistency of steering feel, with the amount of input forever changing depending on the speed travelled and driving conditions.
Toyota and its luxury subsidiary Lexus (with its RZ model also being developed with a yoke) are also in the midst of developing their own system, while Infiniti (owned by Nissan) became the first mainstream maker to provide steer-by-wire in 2014 in the Q50 saloon. However, because this had a back-up mechanical steering arrangement, it was rendered pointless.
The facelifted Mercedes EQS, which should come with an increased driving range, is due to debut the technology when it arrives in showrooms next year.
The current version costs from £99,845 in the UK, but expect the additional technology to push the entry price above the six-figure mark.
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