steering wheel alternative and pedals?

the red X marks where part of the door can be removed too allow larger part of the chassis to be solid for better structural strength, such may allow thinner chassis mass by thinner chassis layer of whatever. only pay off is user will have to bend in feet getting in the car, even disabled people would probably be ok with this given they have to bend legs at some level from standing to sitting everywhere else in life

https://www.aptera.us/forum/aptera-design-discussion/steering-wheel-alternative-and-pedals seating position can also be lower to the ground to make it easier to push a amount of force vs being in normal car sitting position. the motor that is driven by the pedals to provide resistance of pedals to simulate normal pedals resistance to be pressed, can also be used to generate electricity. i don't think its necessary to increase resistance according to weight against motors forward movement b/c pedals already don't do that, so why spend electricity to add resistance. if such is wanted, there can be bike gears to increase resistance like on pedal bike gearboxes. https://www.cyclingabout.com/13-speed-shimano-gearbox/

although lazy people will reject such thing(most people nowadays at least in 1st world lands) , but this can be a "plugin to play" option rather than mandatory thing given the acceleration pedal is just drive by wire, brakes can be done by a lever like in a manual gearbox setup.

from that post: "Could you make a round steering wheel optional? I never have problems with visibility or leg room, but I do like to let the steering wheel slide through my hands when exiting a corner.

Also, I actually like having the steering wheel close to my legs, so I can support my arm on my leg and hold the bottom of the wheel."

"Also when you actively rotate the steering wheel, you want your hands to grab it in a predictable way. Otherwise hands can slip. A non-circular wheel can only be handy if the neutral to lock range is less than 90 degrees which is a bloody sensitive steering!"

" I actually like having the steering wheel close to my legs(like in circle steering wheel), so I can support my arm on my leg and hold the bottom of the wheel."

this last quote seems to describe bad driving position b/c crooked spine, but desire to lean arm to allow less effort to keep arms up when tired can be helped if steering wheel can be mechanically adjustable by pulling steering wheel closer to driver so arms can reach wheel while elbow rests on armrests. this same principle of wanting to lean on stuff can be applied at pedals, where one can lean their knee against a wall and rest partially on their heels, so they only have to hold position of their toes or top part of the foot on the pedal. the parts user leans on should be cushioned b/c at least for some people it can ache a little to lean against stiff stuff for long.

if there is no driver assist stuff like tesla autopilot, there can also be a mechanical switch that holds pedal in place so driver doesn't have to hold position with foot, besides ergonomic comfort when tired this also takes stress from maintaining speed thus prevents changing speed unnecessarily b/c of attention coming back and away in daydreaming during long boring moments in driving, and lack of changing speed when change is unnecessary also helps driving range b/c car doesn't have to push for more speed after slowing down a little, it just maintains energy output at consistent speed.

That's a very futuristic idea. However, it will need to wait until we have full auto-pilot, which even Tesla has yet to master. Just saw in the news yesterday a Tesla on "autopilot" ran into a police car. Bad move!

Until we have full autopilot the driver must stay alert ready to take control at any second - steering wheel and brakes, too. Don't forget the brakes.

Once we have full auto pilot, just push the steering wheel into the dashboard. We won't need it.

@Harry Parker it only takes 1-2 seconds to slide the wheel column to the passenger, so if teh steering is drive by wire, todays common lane keeping software is good enough to keep teh car in place for 2 seconds by software taking over when steering wheel is un attached to be slid over to passenger.

*1 not sure what average affect would be across different laws

*2 im not sure if there is no need for much mechanical force for steering from steering wheel, but if there is than this concept becomes relevant,

but even if not Hyundai prophecy concept car has joystick steering where driver moves wrist side to side:

benefits of driver perception for safety and better experience driving range:

i assume the steering ackerman (difference of angle between left and right tire to make a maximally frictionless turn when steering around a turn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYxmuCSkePM ) is reflected in the different angled left and right joysticks. maximal frictionlessness is helpful for less tire erosion thus more tire life and can help prevent losses of energy via friction in moving around a corner (more driving battery range) ,by allowing more speed without drifting out of road lane when moving around a corner. the ackerman difference in joystick angle can make more frictionless turning more intuitive, especially after mechanical feedback from steering wheel is lost in steer by computer hardware ready for autonomous driving software.

having 2 joysticks for both hands is helpful to make it easier to be careful in modulating the steering carefully, so a wrist spasm or general spatial inaccuracy on one hand doesn't turn car too sharply.

the gas pedal/accelerator still exists it just looks seamless with the foot rest, u can see teh panel gaps that differentiate teh accelerator/brake. this is very stupid b/c lack of space between accelerator and brake makes it easy to accidently compress the wrong pedal. im not sure if normal pedals allow better fine motor skill in actuation of pedals than joystick, which is important to have smoother real world acceleration for better energy effiency, and more accurate pedal position for quicker/slower braking to allow more time to adjust braking to allow minimum braking thus minimum use thus erosion of friction brake pads, and maintaining speed is more efficient than regenerative braking then putting down power to speed up more in cases where driver often corrects his own pedal movements according to road scenario.

supposedly driver feels like hes going faster than his actual speed if car is lower compared a higher ride height car https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V_HjDMU6js. given this, maybe hands at lower position increases perceived change in speed when accelerating or turning around a corner b/c driver is focusing on muscle movements at location lower to the ground than a normal steering wheel. this would be make driving movement feel more dramatic thus make driver feel the need to be more careful in handling teh car, thus making it harder to split attention into doing something else like texting which driver shouldn't be doing for driver awareness, safety. increased perception of drama makes car feel more sporty thus less boring thus less urge to multitask between lets say texting while driving, and sporty is a marketing point too. joystick also requires wrist modulation, people habitually practice much more fine motor skill movement with wrists (ex. in typing/texting/writing etc) than they do with arms (ex. it doesn't take as much careful movement to lift a bag). this also makes steering the car require more attention.

increased perceived quickness may also make some feel the need to slow down thus less average loss of driving battery range per speed, if driver actually needs to get somewhere quickly he will check speedometer and drive near the local speed limit accordingly.

benefit of improvement to ac/heater system:

when peopel feel cold, it calms the feeling of cold when parts of body where there isnt much blood flow are insulated/heated, and transferring heat to person via conduction is more efficient than doing so via radiation like normal car heater venting. thus heated steering wheel is helpful, but joystick allows heating of area where hands will always be while steering wheel heats whole steering wheel even though hands arnt always on every location of steering wheel, a moment of change in hand position means hands are open to the air where heat escapes their hands quickly. joystick can have heat conducting strips at contact with at hand, heat will heat hands and heat blood flow from hand to other parts of body.

for the hot climate, the joystick should be hollow inside and teh space should be opened up at the stem of joystick for max ventilation, cabin, especially seats, should also have this minimum surface area/mass for minimum need of energy spent on A/C. the switch to turn on heater can be a mechanical slider that continues connection to heater module but also mechanically closes in the open hole under teh stem of the joystick to minimize heat loss to ventilation.

benefit of manufacturing cost:

joystick seems it can be less mass thus more cost effective than normal steering wheel.

*3 buttons and dials togglable by thumb can be placed around and near joysticks like steering wheels, as shown in the red circles in the picture above. there can also be be triggers like in guns and the triggers can have different level of modulation and pushing feedback depending on how much the trigger is compressed, like a normal car gas pedal. this change in pushing feed back should also be used so that its not easy to accidently flick the joystick thus accidently make a sharp turn on road. this is also useful for car accelerator.

buttons can be placed so only the thumb needs to move around to press different buttons, the thumb orr finger next to it would need to be wrapped around the joystick at all times, so scenarios when the buttons corresponding to those finger would be used should consider that to ensure hands are securely gripped around joystick (there are two joysticks so less grip on one can be made up for more grip on another)

also i think this will be easy to learn thus not annoying but rather fun just b/c of the uniqueness of it, which can be a big social media marketing move for even non car enthusiast.

the electronic servos or whatever can still make such steering computer controlled.