Honda is about to mass-produce line steering system.

According to American media reports, Honda published its patent map of wire transmission technology on USPTO website in mid-December. According to reports, Honda uses a piezoelectric sensor for the steering wheel. When the driver’s hands slide along the surface of the steering wheel, the sensor continuously monitors the movement trajectory and pressure change, and switches to steering action, which is transmitted to the front wheel of the vehicle to change the driving direction. In fact, this technology, called Steer-by-wire, was actually unveiled at the Honda Technology Conference at the end of 2013, and Honda was not the first automobile manufacturer to launch this technology.

Finidi, a subsidiary of Nissan, has taken the lead in adopting the steering control system by wire for Q50. Like Nissan’s Direct Adaptive Steering, Honda’s steer-by-wire system also uses an electronic control computer to replace the function of the traditional steering column, and adds a highly sensitive sensor at the steering wheel signal input to sense and convey the driver’s operation intention. After receiving the information, the control computer outputs corresponding action instructions to the steering gear, and at the same time processes the vehicle attitude and road condition information and feeds it back to the steering wheel.

However, it is reported that Britain and finidi once delayed the launch of Q50 due to the immature technologies such as wire transmission, and the mechanical control of rack and pinion has not been abandoned for subsequent models. In December 2013, finidi recalled a small batch of Q50, precisely because of the problem of the wire transmission system. According to the report of American Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA), when the engine compartment temperature drops below zero, the wire transmission system may fail. Although the Q50 has a mechanical control as a backup, NHTSA said that the mechanical control may not be started in time, so in an emergency, a collision will not be avoided. Of course, the recalled models are only a very small part, and NHTSA has not received the accident report caused by this failure.

Honda claims that the use of steer-by-wire system can isolate unnecessary road interference, and at the same time make steering more sensitive, so that any driver can easily and flexibly control the vehicle under any conditions. In addition, the developer of the system said that like Nissan, Honda also set up an emergency backup system for this by-wire steering system. In case of emergency (such as computer failure, power failure, etc.), the system will immediately switch to the mechanical backup system to ensure that the vehicle can be operated. (Reporter Chen Xinxin)