Nissan Introduces Steer-By-Wire Technology

Nissan's newest advanced technology is the first to market that eliminates the direct linkage between the steering wheel in your hands and the wheels on the road. "Steer-by-wire" sends steering wheel input through several CPU modules (with redundancy in case one should fail), then actuating the steering rack and in turn the wheels wheels via an electronic signal.

This is unlike every production car sold today, which use hydraulic-assisted or sometimes electronic-assisted steering, but still turn the wheels through a direct mechanical linkage. Using a clutch and standard-style steering shaft, Nissan's system will give way to mechanical linkage should CPU signals fail.

The system, which is rumored to debut on next year's production next-gen 2014 Infiniti G, has the power to completely eliminate jarring feedback at the steering wheel in the case of rough roads. Using a camera, steer-by-wire can also compensate for crosswinds and road banking, creating a point-and-drive experience without the need for constant small corrections. On a sport sedan like the G37, this is a good or bad thing, depending on who you ask. It's all in the implementation, and we'll see how natural it all feels. Because the car can now turn itself, the tech also allows for Nissan's new emergency pedestrian and obstacle avoidance system.

Steer-by-wire is the next logical step toward fully autonomous cars, and like current production throttle-by-wire and brake-by-wire systems, it has the ability to improve fuel efficiency by eliminating extra load on the engine. There's something disconcerting about quite literally giving up control of the car to a computer, but we suppose the march of progress cannot be stopped.