Audi has filed a patent for a technology that would allow for a steering wheel in an 'optional' shape. It looks more advanced than Tesla's 'yoke steering wheel'.
There is a lot of experimentation going on in the automotive industry. If you are interested in what and how, the European Patent Office is a good place to start.
Audi, for example, wants the rights to a steering wheel that changes shape. Yes, it's good enough. Or at least that's what it looks like in the drawings that the Germans have sent to the authorities.
Carmoses writes.
The drawings show that Audi envisions a steering wheel with eight interchangeable spokes, resulting in four different ways the steering wheel could look.
First there is the regular round shape, then a kind of diamond shape and two more combinations that most resemble a horizontal figure 8 and a curly bracket.
It's hard to say for sure whether Audi intends to take the technology seriously. It could also be that the idea will simply be shelved.
But the Germans are certainly not the only ones toying with all sorts of ideas in the automotive industry. Ferrari, for example, has applied for a patent for an inverted V6 engine that burns hydrogen in reverse. Read more about it here .
