Lexus will introduce its first all-new, dedicated BEV next year:

https://pressroom.lexus.com/lexus-ac...fied-vehicles/

 

I’m guessing NX plug in.

 

The NX plug-in will most likely be the PHEV mentioned for later this year (2021). I'm talking about Lexus announcing an all-new, dedicated BEV in 2022. I'm thinking it will be a production version of the LF-Z.

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/l...es-ev-by-2022/

Lexus promises its first battery-electric vehicle by 2022

The new luxury EV will be its own stand-alone model rather than an electric trim of an existing one.

 

‘yeah for sure. Do you like the concept?

The press ad refers to steer by wire, I’ve never heard them use the steer by wire term before. This will be for future vehicles

 

I love what I see of the concept. I will definitely consider buying this when it comes out if it is anything like the concept.

 

The term "steer by wire" for vehicles has been around for some time. It is an outgrowth on the "fly by wire" term we see in aviation for control-surfaces on aircraft and spacecraft. Electronic flight-controls actually date back at least till the 1980s, with their introduction on the F-16 fighter plane. We have not actually seen much of it in actual vehicles yet, because of liability-concerns. Only one actual production vehicle that I know of (the Infiniti Q50 sedan) has actually used a form of it .....and, even then, it was only a partly by-wire system, which had mechanical connections as a back-up, and only one or two connections in the steering-column were pure electric/sensor.

 

Honda is using steer by wire. This is the first time I’ve ever heard Toyota use it in any of the products

 

FULL steer-by-wire? Like I said above, even the ones I saw on the Q50 were really partial-systems....Infiniti called it Active-Steering.

 

I am pretty sure, but I could be wrong

 

Infiniti calls it Direct Adaptive Steering and it is a fully digital system that does not use any physical/mechanical connection to the wheels when the engine is running. If the system fails or the engine is shut off, a clutch is automatically engaged that then connects the steering wheel to the front wheels, but this is only an emergency backup feature. I've had a Q50 and I've experienced the mechanical steering backup (intentionally to see what it's like) and it's really just so you can steer the car off the road to safety. The car is awful to drive in this "mode." Steering is completely unassisted and very heavy in addition to not being direct at all. Under all other circumstances, it is a fully digital steer-by-wire system.

 

Steer by wire is fine - as long as it is foolproof - because if the system fails, then there could be a big fatality.

IMO, steer by wire technology goes hand in hand with autonomous self driving vehicles - in both cases, if the hardware/software fails, then there could be a major fatality.