After more than a century, is the ultimate HMI set to disappear from the motor car?

No doubt our forefathers never saw the tiller as one of the first Human Machine Interfaces, so when they ditched this maritime relic for a circular steering wheel it was surely only seen as a technical improvement, not a revolution. Simpler and smaller than their nautical counterparts, the modern steering wheel first made its mark during the 1894 Paris-Rouen road-race, when a Panhard driven by Alfred Vacheron became the first race-car to successfully demonstrate this hi-tech device.

One hundred years later and the race car’s steering wheel has developed into an important piece of cockpit real estate, with several critical controls relocated to the steering wheel within easy reach of the driver.

Clustered around the hub, buttons control the 'on/off' functions, such as engaging the pit-lane speed limiter, while rotary controls manage functions with multiple settings, such as engine maps, fuel mixture and even front-to-rear brake bias. Recently controls for the car's energy recovery systems (ERS) and the drag reduction system (DRS) have also found a place amongst the other controls.

But it’s not only controls that are located on the wheel, critical information is also displayed to the driver, usually via a multi-function LCD display screen and ultra-bright 'change up' lights that notify the driver of the perfect timing to optimize gearshifts.

Race control can also communicate with the driver via a compulsory, steering-wheel mounted GPS marshalling system. This displays warning lights, with colours corresponding to the marshals’ flags, to alert drivers to approaching hazards, such as an accident, on the track ahead.

Whilst a layman would likely be confused by the plethora of Formula 1 controls, there is an ever growing need to improve the HMI on road cars by presenting information within easy reach of the driver and in line of sight of the road.

Autoliv, working with Swedish sensor company, Neonode, introduced a steering wheel promising exactly this at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, dubbing the technology “zForce AIR MultiSensing.”

Using embedded optical sensors that feature a series of glowing lights around the rim of the steering wheel, the zForce concept allows drivers to interact, using gestures and motions, with various functions of the vehicle without removing their hands from the wheel. The driver could, for example, answer the phone by lightly tapping on one of the illuminated sections.

Beyond adding this type of functionality to steering wheels, carmakers and suppliers are wrestling with the next phase: steering wheels that are only in use part of the time, when drivers take control in vehicles designed with autonomous functions.

The folding steering wheel changes direction

Early folding steering wheels served to ease entry and exit into cramped sports car cockpits whose designers have often chosen to sacrifice space for outright performance.

As early as 1928 Amilcar offered their customers a folding and locking steering wheel and the Rollaway Motor Company of Toledo, Ohio made the Lokwel. Even Mercedes Benz adopted the technology in the iconic 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300 Gullwing Coupe.

In the 21st century, as small city cars gain market share, the folding steering wheel is again attracting interest. To help entry into and exit from the next generation of compact city cars, automotive supplier TRW Automotive Holdings has developed a steering wheel that folds up and retracts into the dashboard when the vehicle is switched off.

Still in the concept stage, the steering wheel features two handles that close fully and fold away into the dashboard, which the company says significantly improves driver comfort and accessibility. The steering wheel, the angle of which can be pre-set and saved by the driver, deploys back into the driving position when the car is started.

But as we enter the autonomous-vehicle age, the ability to retract the steering wheel takes on an added significance: One which leads some commentators to speculate that the steering wheel could suffer the same fate as the tiller.

Voicing his opinion on the matter, James Hotary, director of xWorks Innovation Center of Faurecia Automotive Seating NA, believes the steering wheel's iconic place in controlling the vehicle may be coming to an end.

With IHS Automotive’s forecast that 21 million autonomous vehicles will be sold annually by 2035 it seems likely that the steering wheel will undergo a drastic transformation or disappear completely.

Already, several automakers, including Volvo and Mercedes-Benz, have shown concept cars with steering wheels that retract when the vehicle is in autonomous mode. And the Google Car doesn’t even bother with a wheel!

Volvo's Concept 26 vehicle, which debuted last November at the Los Angeles Auto Show, features a retractable steering wheel which Robin Page, chief of interior design, says was chosen to keep the familiar shape of the steering wheel:

"We wanted to keep the recognition of a round steering wheel," he said. "People first need to get used to autonomous drive, so being able to go back to the steering wheel and grab hold of it is comforting. We decided to have it there as a recognizable icon."

In its Vision Tokyo autonomous concept, shown at the Tokyo auto show last fall, Mercedes-Benz introduced the “Connected Lounge” in which passengers sit on an oval couch.

With this design, in manual mode the oblong steering wheel sits in the middle of the cockpit, whilst in autonomous mode it retracts behind a flap. The wheel, along with the pedals, re-emerges when the vehicle returns to manual mode.

Jeremy Carlson, Senior Analyst with IHS Automotive, is however skeptical about the telescoping, or retractable steering wheel ever being widely produced. "I don't see this telescoping steering wheel being very popular anytime soon, other than as a concept of what the vehicle could look like. When we talk about the process of moving from automated to autonomous, it's going to be a long, drawn-out transition. These types of vehicles will coexist on the road for a long time."

And this lengthy transition to self-driving cars could just see the venerable steering wheel cling to life a little longer; not surrendering its existence nearly as easily as the tiller once did.