Back in the day, I drove manual transmission cars and said that only people with manual transmissions were "drivers", anyone with an automatic was just a "steerer".
I now drive a Bolt EUV with one pedal driving, meaning that if I lift up on the accelerator pedal, it starts regenerative braking. It's a lot less complicated than using a stick but it's almost as fun.
Driving a regular car without one pedal driving now seems dangerous because the car keeps coasting when I lift my foot off the pedal instead of slowing down.
I also use adaptive cruise control a lot so that the car is speeding up and slowing down as the car in front does. It really reduces the stress of bumper-to-bumper driving.
In my case (Tesla Model 3) releasing the accelerator results in immediate and significant braking, down to a complete stop of the car. Whereas an ICE will apply a mild engine brake and keep going.
Yes!! I'm a fan of both EVs and driving engagement. I've driven a manual my whole life, and the thing I'm dreading most about switching to an EV is giving that up. Driving is sooo boring without managing gears, rev matching, and so on. I guess it's unlikely it will ever come to a car I will actually buy, at best I imagine it will be limited to sports cars, but it's at least a glimmer of hope that we could have a less dull driving future than EVs currently promise.
Maybe! I hope so! I've had only a little experience with EVs when driving other peoples' cars, but it just felt like a boring ol' automatic. I enjoy technical execution stuff like rev matching and heel-toe downshifting. Acceleration isn't really what I'm after.
In ICE cars gear shifting gives extra control and power. In an EV it’s emulated by lowering power and reducing the range of control. Technically it’s all backwards.
To me it doesn’t do anything except appeal to feelings and associations drivers have developed in ICE cars.
It’s like adding hiss and crackling noises, and tape rewinding simulator to digital audio.
Sick to death of Toyota. Despite continuing to advertise them, you can't buy a Toyota hybrid in my province or the three nearby. None of the dealers will accept names on a waiting list at this point as Toyota isn't delivering on even the tiny trickle of vehicles they've promised. They're all using 4-5 year old shuttle vehicles because the dealer can't get stock for themselves. Sales critters are angry because the customer satisfaction surveys they're scored on are coming back overwhelmingly negative because of delivery delays and parts unavailability. Dealers claiming that the official line of supply chain issues is a sham, instead that Toyota saw a lot of vehicles being exported overseas to be flipped for a profit, and is now just sending the domestically produced vehicles directly there instead.
My wife just took delivery on a RAV4 hybrid that she ordered 9 months ago from local dealership in Ontario. The waiting time is long but not interminable here; and our two Toyota dealers are both actively maintaining a wait list.
None of the Saskatchewan Toyota dealers are accepting names for Siennas. According to sales for our most local dealer they were allocated 20 last year on a waiting list of over 120. They only received 15, one of which was unsaleable on arrival and only 5 of which arrived with the correct set of options. They expect the same or less this year, hence the shutdown of the waiting list.
I love manual transmission cars and miss them, and like Toyota cars, but couldn't really get behind something artificial like this. I mean, if Toyota made them and someone wanted one, more power to them, but I think for me I'd worry about it being an unnecessary additional subsystem to break down. If it had any functional utility I might feel differently (maybe I just didn't read it carefully enough?)
I can't be the only one turned off by blatantly artificial experiences, such as piping fake engine noises through the stereo speakers. I'm under the impression people these days are desperate for authentic experiences. I'd like to see the Dodge Viper or AC Cobra of EV's - blatantly simple, raw, and stripped down. Find a way to make a visceral electric motor. Bolt it directly to the chassis for the maximum amount of NVH (noise, vibration, harshness). Bolt a real manual transmission to it, even though there's no point. Take out all the screens and give it honest analog gauges.
This is something I wouldn't mind doing, but I would throw in make it easy to repair by including a repair manual with everything including the kitchen sink.
It's almost as funny as the Dodge Charger EV that little makes vroom vroom sounds. Then again, most gear shift columns, wheels, etc on EVs are just another form of skeumorphism, just not as pronounced.
There is a lot of risk in changing interface standards when dealing with 2+ ton mobile vehicles. Shifting “gears” has been taught to generations of drivers, even just from reverse to park to drive with a shifter.
Jeep tried to switch to a paddle interface, and it was left in neutral rather than park
I teach my kids to always engage hand brake/parking brake, which reduces risk but some of those are “smart” too — so you can inadvertently leave your car in neutral (such as when it needs to be towed) while thinking you set park because interface has altered from learned rote method.
Or the software “shifting” added to cars with a CVT. Typically, they would increase reliability since the engine rpms would fluctuate less, and the transmission would move fairly slowly making minor adjustments. But, since you the acceleration is too smooth and doesn’t have the jerks of typical automatic transmissions, people reportedly didn’t like it so a simulated shifting was added at the expense of efficiency and reliability.
There are practical off roading implications, where you want to control the “gear” you’re in because you want to provide more power to the wheels without necessarily speeding up.
Of course - that mechanism could happen in any way, though letting people use their muscle memory is probably best.
"It starts with a simple joystick and a simpler pedal, both connected to a whole lot of very clever software written by one man with a strong passion for making cars more engaging."
I am baffled by Toyota's EV strategy. They should be Tesla's biggest competitor. Instead their faffing around with endless concepts, hydrogen cars and this thing.
For what it's worth, I loved driving manual when I drove an ICE car. And I relished the sense of accomplishment that came from mastering it. But when I switched to an EV, I realized that what I really wanted from a car was not control but responsiveness. I want my car to go when I tell it to*, and not at it's convenience (which is how automatics always feel to me). This is just a busybox, the kind of toy you give to infants to keep them amused. And fake engine noises? Good grief.
One of the things I was looking forward to living in a large city was the end of “brrrrrrrr” at all hours of the night. Looks like I may not get my wish.
I wonder if toyota reads hn, because I pitched this exact idea here previously.
To everyone who will say this is dumb and pointless, you are not wrong. But if we were always just practical we’d all just take public transit or drive corrolas and minivans. We do all kinds of pointless things with cars that bring joy into the experience. I’m looking at you “off road” style suvs everywhere. If all of that stuff is ok, this is also.
I now drive a Bolt EUV with one pedal driving, meaning that if I lift up on the accelerator pedal, it starts regenerative braking. It's a lot less complicated than using a stick but it's almost as fun.
Driving a regular car without one pedal driving now seems dangerous because the car keeps coasting when I lift my foot off the pedal instead of slowing down.
I also use adaptive cruise control a lot so that the car is speeding up and slowing down as the car in front does. It really reduces the stress of bumper-to-bumper driving.