As Tesla backs away from its steering yoke and Lexus strikes ahead with a model of its personal, a latest Ferrari patent software hints at an much more radical steering system.

Printed by the US Patent and Trademark Workplace (USPTO) on Nov. 16 and initially filed on Might 8, the patent submitting in query describes a system for a controlling a automotive with two joysticks.

Ferrari joystick management system patent picture

A joystick can be positioned on both facet of the driving force’s seat, and shifting them together would permit the driving force to manage the route the automotive turns and the yaw angle—in different phrases, how sideways it will get. Acceleration and braking may very well be managed by conventional pedals, or utilizing buttons or triggers mounted on the joysticks, in keeping with Ferrari.

Ferrari is a bit of imprecise on the benefits of such a system however claims it’s technically possible. Joysticks are already used to manage forklifts, Ferrari notes. What the automaker does not deal with is a earlier try at joystick management. Saab really constructed a prototype automotive with a joystick as a part of a European program aimed toward bettering automotive security. The joystick proved troublesome to make use of, although, and was rapidly dropped.

Ferrari joystick management system patent picture

More moderen makes an attempt at steering-wheel options have centered on yokes, with Tesla putting in them within the Mannequin S and Mannequin X and Lexus making them a part of a brand new steer-by-wire system. Within the software, Ferrari dismisses the yoke as a purely stylistic alternative as a result of it might’t carry out its meant operate in a automotive. Yokes are sometimes utilized in plane, the place they are often pushed ahead or backward to manage pitch. That is the angle of the nostril in relation to the bottom—one thing that is not supposed to vary in a automotive.

But whereas it is unclear if Ferrari’s joystick management system will ever see manufacturing, Lexus is shifting forward with its steering yoke. It is launching within the Lexus RZ 450e electrical crossover, though it is not out there within the U.S. for now.