Toyota Might Be Cooking Up A Manual Gearbox That Acts Like An Auto
When is a manual not a manual? When it’s this bizarre partially automated transmission proposed by Toyota. Revealed via a patent published this month, it’s operated like a normal, three-pedal manual, but when the car is coasting, an electronic control unit is able to disengage the clutch and drop the engine speed, presumably to save fuel in the same way an automatic can.
It goes further than that, by employing locking pins that stop the driver shifting to an inappropriate gear while in the coasting mode, preventing the engine being either lugged or over-revved. While it looks like the point of the exercise is efficiency, the technology could have added benefits for drivers less experienced with a manual gearbox.
Whether or not the concept actually ends up being used, we’ll have to wait and see, but whatever happens, it’s another sign that the automotive industry still has developments in mind for the humble manual. Only recently, German components firm Schaeffler revealed a new clutch system that allows for a manual gearbox to be used on a hybrid powertrain.
By the looks of it, then, we’ll be able to row through the gears of our cars for a few decades more…
Source: US Patent and Trademark Office via Roadshow
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
The Honda Cr-z is a hybrid with a manual.
And the original Honda Insight.
Does this mean an electronic clutch pedal because the computer can operate the clutch even when you’re not pressing it?
If you look at the picture, you can see “CLst” (Clutch?) Input going straight in to a ECU so I doubt there will be any mechanical connection between the clutch pedal and a clutch actuator..
Why not a secuential like shift in a playstation controller?
already exists.
But will it automatically shift into Race Mode when the dude beside me wanna race?
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Useless. If you want to coast with no gear just take it out of gear. I do that all the time when rolling to a red light.
Very Interesting.
It sounds like it would be a joy to drive for those less interested in fiddling around with a clutch, yet still want to hoon around in a manual.
But let’s NOT put it in the new Supra….