Volkswagen has patented a new design for turn indicators that will strip the steering column clean of all ‘stalks’ and ‘paddles’, moving the relevant functions onto the spokes, CarBuzz reports.
Representatives of the company propose adding two sets of buttons to the inner side of the steering wheel rim – one on the left and the other one on the right. Drivers are supposed to choose the main function with the left button (e.g., toggle lights) and then pick the specific action from the illuminated pictograms on the right side (e.g., high beams, fog lights etc.).
The German car corporation believes such an implementation of turn indicators in particular will increase traffic safety, because drivers will no longer have to take their hands off the steering wheel. Furthermore, dynamically assigning functions to buttons will enable a wider selection of commands compared to what you can get with the traditional paddle shifters. For example, switching drive modes on the go or controlling multimedia playback straight from the wheel becomes easy with this approach, the patent argues.
Last but not least, there is no avoiding admitting that digital interfaces achieve substantially lower production costs. Engineers will no longer have to devise an individual set of paddles and stalks for each VW Group car with this approach.
As is always the case with patents, it remains a mystery when or even whether it may be approved for mass-market implementation.