We've been hearing for more than a decade that driverless cars are on the horizon, and BMW has just patented something portending that brave new automotive world. Found in a recent legal filing to ensure they're the only ones who can take advantage of the tech, it was revealed that they've crafted some sort of passenger to vehicle interface for those times when a real live human might need to take over control of an otherwise autonomous BMW. Many automotive enthusiasts have been worried that a time might come when our favorite cars or even human drivers would be banned from public roads. After looking at the design details it's clear that BMW is preparing for driverless roads no matter what happens.

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The Next Generation

via videoblocks.com

The automotive enthusiast community as we know it may not last another century as technology progresses. The argument about whether or not younger people care about, desire, or want to modify cars is an ongoing one. What's not in question though is that cars are more of an appliance than they've ever been before. Consider how many people, not just young ones, seem genuinely disinterested in being skillful behind the wheel of a car. With that in mind, BMW has come up with an interesting solution for a future when most occupants of their vehicles can't or don't drive.

Is That A Joystick?

Via BMWPatent

In short, no, it's two joysticks. Each of these seems to be controllable independently and seems to be designed specifically to act in the rare situation that a person needs to take over control of an otherwise full autonomous vehicle. Both stalks have dials up top (5a), presumably for some sort of speed setting. The drive modes (4b) as well as the turn indicator switch (4a) is clearly visible as well on the left so at least that's familiar to us. What's interesting about them is that they're mirrored on the right side as well.

Beyond that, there's not much clear cut in the filing other than the notion that both sticks can be turned but the driver won't be required to use both hands at once to operate the car. With that said it's clear we'll have to wait some time before we see if this thing ever really makes it into production. While the BMW faithful would love to see it utilized in the upcoming i4, that seems dubious at best since it's likely we've already seen that interior.

Reinventing The Wheel

Via BMW

As time progresses surely we'll see more strange ideas about how future drivers will interact with cars that are in fact little more than status symbol appliances. BMW has for decades been striving to lead the charge when it comes to new technology so this patent shouldn't surprise anyone.

I think it's incredibly BMW-esque that they're literally reinventing the wheel here and seemingly making it far more complex and complicated than ever before. Their newer cars are about as complex as it gets, but at least models like the M5 Competition show that they still know how to party with the enthusiast crowd while we're all still here.

Source: BMW

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