GENEVA MOTOR SHOW: More 'by-wire' tech for Nissan
Nissan development and marketability boss says electric steering is just for startersNissan and Infiniti will look to ramp up the use of 'by-wire' technologies in their future models. That's the word from development and 'marketability' engineering chief, Jerry Hardcastle.
Mr Hardcastle told motoring.com.au that the Japanese marques were keen to build trust in consumers' minds for 'by-wire' technologies, which the long-time Nissan corporation boffin said brought with them a suite of benefits.
Infiniti's new Q50 mid-size sedan features a world first steer-by-wire steering system, which can be mapped to suite the car's four drive modes.
Mr Hardcastle stated that in the future 'by-wire' technologies would allow brake feel and other aspects of the car's behaviour to also be tuned to suit particular models.
Though the Q50 retains a mechanical steering column, in normal use an electronic clutch disconnects the column from the steering rack.
Three motors, two on the steering rack and one on the column itself, provide the two-way action of the steering. Three electronic control units provide the brains behind the system. It takes just one of those to sense a fault before the car defaults to a purely mechanical system.
Mr Hardcastle says while there are fuel economy benefits from electrically assisted power steering, the main advantage of the 'by-wire' system is flexibility.
"We can tune in just about any characteristics that a driver might need or want. Fully [steer-] by-wire also allows the ability to incorporate features like active lane control and is a foundation for technologies of the future," he said.
Mr Hardcastle says the retention of a 'hard' connection between steering wheel and the road is in part a response to legislation but also delivers to what is essentially a conservative marketplace confidence in the car.
Though the system will debut in the Q50, the Chief Marketability Engineer (and Technical Director of Global Motorsports) says 'by-wire' technology will filter down into Nissan products.
"We can afford to debut this sort of technology in an Infiniti, but we would like to see a cascade of technology between the brands. We've already demonstrated this with things like AroundView Monitor," Mr Hardcastle stated.
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