Buttons on steering wheels

[skyguyscott]

So there has been some discussion about car makers starting to add physical buttons back into their vehicles - for lots of reasons, such as customer demand and less driver distraction compared to screen menus.

Which got me thinking about where Rivian might put these buttons. I think buttons for climate control would be the most welcome, and probably the dash somewhere would be best, but the Steering wheel is another option.

Rivian already has some cool steering wheel controls, but they are still dynamic rather than dedicated controls, and still rely on some screen display somewhere.

Ever since Speed Racer's fictional Mach 5, kids have been dreaming about the perfect steering wheel, and I did some digging and found even crazier designs car makers have experimented with in their concept cars over the years and thought I'd share them here just for fun. Who knows, maybe Rivian will do something weird and wonderful someday, inspired by these wild wheels.

The Italians are known for their exotic designs, but Maserati has come up with some doozies from decades ago

Skip ahead a decade or so, and I found this one I kinda like -- note the Sony CRT and floppy drive!

Around the same time, Mazda designed a cockpit that speaks to the pilot in me. No they weren't the first or only, but I still like this version.

Lotus looked to the F1 world for this fairly recent design. Other than the gold knob, I actually think it looks almost conventional with present day designs:

Closer to home, Oldsmobile(!) did a really crazy wheel yoke that's so bad it's good. I wonder if the grips twist like on a motorcycle. Also, I'm not sure if they included enough buttons.

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[ElGuano]

Totally getting Knight Rider vibes from the last one. That shag rug though...

 

[VandalSibs]

I've never seen a steering wheel with climate control buttons on it, but the last car I had that wasn't all minimalist was a 2011 Chevy HHR... not exactly high-end.

 

[skyguyscott]

I've never seen a steering wheel with climate control buttons on it, but the last car I had that wasn't all minimalist was a 2011 Chevy HHR... not exactly high-end.

GM's Oldsmobile concept did it -- look on the right side of the yoke, two rocker switches for temperature and fan. I suppose that would work, but I think climate controls probably should be on the dash so your passenger can fight you because they are too cold. (then again, with those rocker switches, you could secretly adjust it back a step at a time without their ever knowing!)

But, looking back, the sliding levers from the 1960s were simple, elegant, easily adjusted, visually minimalist and remind me of the 1960s Star Trek Transporter.

 

[iamnid]

I don't need any more buttons.

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

I'd rather have voice controls that work 100% the first time. No, Alexa, I don't want to navigate to the UPS store 127 miles away. The one three miles away will do just fine.

 

[mkg3]

I like physical buttons but not on the steering wheel. Would like it on the dash and console.

Fundamentally, I'd be happy with music volume and HVAC fan control rotating nobs, and the manual control of vents.

 

[beatle]

I've never seen a steering wheel with climate control buttons on it, but the last car I had that wasn't all minimalist was a 2011 Chevy HHR... not exactly high-end.

The earlier Model S/X had a similar physical steering wheel interface to the Rivian with scroll wheels, but you could customize what some of the buttons did, including the right scroll wheel. One of those options was temperature, another was fan speed. On my 2015 when they still offered a sunroof that opened, I used the scroll wheel to control it. The menu button was located just below the right scroll wheel.

 

[Gen(R3)Xer]

I'd rather have voice controls that work 100% the first time. No, Alexa, I don't want to navigate to the UPS store 127 miles away. The one three miles away will do just fine.

I have this problem with my Model 3 sometimes, too. And the “advanced” AI can’t seem to interact with the GPS system. It’s a cluster.

 

[VandalSibs]

The earlier Model S/X had a similar physical steering wheel interface to the Rivian with scroll wheels, but you could customize what some of the buttons did, including the right scroll wheel. One of those options was temperature, another was fan speed. On my 2015 when they still offered a sunroof that opened, I used the scroll wheel to control it. The menu button was located just below the right scroll wheel.

Something they got rid of by the time Model 3 came around for sure.

 

[Mellowyellow]

I'd rather have voice controls that work 100% the first time. No, Alexa, I don't want to navigate to the UPS store 127 miles away. The one three miles away will do just fine.

I don't need any more buttons but an actual useful voice assistant that works would be the cat's meow.

 

[beatle]

Something they got rid of by the time Model 3 came around for sure.

Surprisingly no, they still allow you to customize the left scroll wheel function, including temperature control for the HVAC. I don't think it's as intuitive as the old system, though I admittedly never owned a 3 or a refreshed S.

 

[VandalSibs]

Surprisingly no, they still allow you to customize the left scroll wheel function, including temperature control for the HVAC. I don't think it's as intuitive as the old system, though I admittedly never owned a 3 or a refreshed S.

I don't remember that in my 3 or Y... But I've largely forgotten those vehicles now that I'm into year three with my R1T.

 

[Zoidz]

What's old is what's new.

 

[DD4ST]

I agree Rivian needs buttons for some climate control activities. My wife still can’t figure out how to adjust Rivian’s. But I would not put them on the steering wheel as passengers may be the ones doing the adjusting.

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