Recently, Toyota bZ4X opened pre-sale in China, with a price range of 220,000-300,000. The new car comes from the Toyota e-TNGA pure electric architecture, and the shell replacement model similar to the bZ4X includes Subaru's Solterra and Lexus RZ, which are also called the e-TNGA architecture pure electric three brothers.
Subaru's Solterra and Lexus RZ have not yet made an appearance in the country, but we already know that the three cars are shared in terms of core spare parts. What's more, Toyota brought innovative technology to the three brother models this time , OMG steering, which includes the driver's steering wheel and steer-by-wire technology.
OMG technology, not the meaning of "even buy Karma", it is an abbreviation of "One Motion Grip". The technology consists of two aspects, one is the racer steering wheel similar to Tesla's Yoke steering wheel, and the other is steering-by-wire technology. Unlike Tesla, the Lexus version of the Yoko steering wheel is also equipped with electronic steering by wire.
As the name suggests, the steer-by-wire technology relies entirely on electronic signal transmission when controlling the front wheel steering, it does not have the traditional gear steering column physical connection, when the driver turns, the electronic signal will send a signal to the steering machine to complete the steering, at this time the second electric machine in the steering system gives the driver a signal feedback. Lexus guarantees that the steer-by-wire system is equipped with a complete backup and redundancy controller and a CAN bus system that provides reassuring reliability and complete peace of mind for daily use.
At this time, some people will say that Infiniti also had a steer-by-wire steering system, and Toyota is not called innovation. No, Lexus steer-by-Wire is very different from Infiniti's Direct Adaptive Steering system, which allows the driver to choose different steering ratios, while Lexus Steer-By-Wire does not provide the driver with a choice of modes, but automatically adjusts the steering ratio according to the driving situation. For example, in a parking lot environment, the speed is slower, and the steering feel will be very light. In high-speed driving, in order to maintain the stability of the vehicle when changing lanes, the steering range will be reduced, and the steering feel is quite stable. Toyota's set of steer-by-wire technology has a full range of motion of only 300 degrees, which means that when playing a full wheel, there will be no hand-over cross-playing wheel, which is not possible on the Tesla Yoke steering wheel.
Recently, Lexus organized some media in the United States to experience the steer-by-wire technology on RZ pure trams. Master Horn's friends have the honor to participate, and now share his experience with everyone.
Driving on the track, the Lexus RZ's steer-by-wire system is more intuitive than a traditional steering wheel. When steering, the angle of rotation is much less than that of a traditional steering wheel, but the steering response is predictable and very linear, unlike playing video games, especially in terms of steering accuracy, which is also satisfactory. After comparison, models with steer-by-wire technology are ahead in lap speeds than models with regular steering wheels. In fact, the entire steer-by-wire system is very easy to get started, and editors can quickly adapt and easily control it.
The real magic is the seamless real-time adjustment of the steering ratio in the steer-by-wire technology. On the track, the editor deliberately "provoked" this set of in-line control technology, as if trying to find out one of the flaws, but in fact the whole system is flawless. When tackling corners, only a small turning range is required to accurately complete the split bend. Although the angle of movement is much smaller than that of the traditional steering wheel, especially when it comes to large hairpin bends, the feel when steering is completely natural and intuitive, and it is easy to get started.
In the Elk test, the response speed of this steer-by-wire steering system was also commendable, and the steering felt slightly heavier at this time to avoid oversteering and causing loss of control. In addition, Lexus said that when crosswind is encountered at high speed, the steer-by-wire system also automatically compensates the steering force to counteract the crosswind. Unfortunately, I was not able to experience the driving experience of rough roads this time, and I don't know how the steering-by-wire system will feel when driving on bad roads.
In order to experience the feel of steering at low speeds, the editor found a tapered corner in the track with a great steering angle. The Lexus RZ's steering angle is surprising when it steers faster than the speed of change during the last few strokes. Finally, the editor performs a risk-averse lane change action with the stabilization system turned off on the smooth surface, and the steer-by-wire system will make it easier for the car to have a tail-flicking phenomenon.
If we have to find shortcomings in this steering-by-wire system, it is still the shape of the Yoke steering wheel itself, because we have long been accustomed to the traditional steering wheel driving characteristics, after all, facing the Yoke steering wheel, our hands are firmly limited to the 3/9 point position. Experienced on the track, with a fast driving situation, we have to shift more of our center of gravity to the hips instead of using our arms, and the dexterous arm steering will get better feedback. But because of the shape of the Yoke steering wheel itself and the force required to turn it, it was difficult for us to take our center of gravity away from our arms. As a result, my arm is sore after a few laps of the track.
epilogue:
The Yoke steering wheel may not represent the future, but steer-by-wire technology does. Compared with Tesla, Elon Musk simply designed a set of novelties for Tesla, and in fact it has no gross effect. But Lexus gave Yoke more to the steering wheel, paired with steer-by-wire technology, to unleash the full potential of the Yoke steering wheel. What do you think about this, welcome to leave a message in the comment area.