Toronto, Ontario — Stellantis has filed a new patent design for a yoke-style steering and braking system that removes the need for foot-controlled inputs entirely.
Like Tesla’s approach to the steering yoke, the patent—originally filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and published on July 4—describes a vehicle system in which “pivoted movement of the motion control input about (a) pivot axis in a first direction (would cause) a forward motion of the vehicle, and pivoted movement of the motion control input about (a) pivot axis in a second direction that is opposite to the first direction (would) reduce a speed of forward motion of the vehicle.”
To put it differently, the vehicle system described would require drivers to turn the steering wheel to turn the vehicle, push down to accelerate and pull up to brake, all with no feet required.
The patent application further notes that “with the advent of driverless or autonomous vehicles, steering wheels may needlessly occupy cabin space when a driver is not controlling the vehicle, and steering wheels may hinder the ingress or egress of a driver when the vehicle is off.” Thereby, a more mobile steering system, the patent feels, would aid in overcoming these potential issues.
Additionally, the patent application suggests that a yoke-style steering system would help free up a driver’s limbs, as in a traditional setup, “to control the movement and steering of a vehicle with the steering wheel and pedal inputs, at least one hand and leg or foot are needed to operate these drive controls.”
As such, while there is no guarantee that this vehicle design will ever make it to the manufacturing stage, the system is perhaps one example of how vehicles could be made more accessible for those with lower-body mobility issues.
