Tesla CEO Elon Musk stunned many when he claimed the carmaker didn’t plan to offer a standard circular steering wheel option when the controversial yoke steering wheel was released.
According to a recent software update, Tesla appears to be reconsidering its position on this issue.
It was a hot topic when Tesla debuted the new Model S with the “yoke” butterfly steering wheel. Some people were concerned about the wheel’s form, while others were concerned about the lack of a drive stalk to select the drive mode.
In the case of the former, we assumed that the carmaker wouldn’t risk releasing the contentious yoke steering wheel without a nonlinear steering curve provided by a steer-by-wire system, especially since Tesla has been working on one.
However, when Tesla began shipping the new Model S Plaid last year, we were disappointed to see that the steering wheel had a standard 14.0:1 steering ratio, which has proven to be unworkable at lower speeds.
In some driving situations, the butterfly is not only impracticable, but also possibly dangerous.
For example, if you lose control on an icy road, it may be more difficult to restore control with fast manoeuvres.
Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, later revealed that the company is working on progressive steering, but that it is still years away.
Tesla replaced all of the stalks’ functions, including turn signals and the horn, with force touch buttons on the steering wheel. According to Musk, “any input is an error,” and the car should perform all of the operations that were on the stalks autonomously (now on the force touch buttons).
However, the capability is still lacking, particularly when it comes to the horn, and Tesla has been adamant on the yoke steering wheel. Despite the fact that multiple Model S Plaid prototypes have been sighted with normal steering wheels, Tesla has refused to make it available as an option.
However, we’ve noticed traces of Tesla starting to crack on the yoke steering wheel in recent weeks.
To begin with, a Model S prototype with a traditional horn was discovered last month.
Now, Tesla hacker “green” has discovered a mention of a steering wheel change with the option of “Yoke” or “Round” in an update to Tesla’s service tools:
choose your destiny… pic.twitter.com/E9zdhMHDSa
— green (@greentheonly) February 24, 2022
While the service is not yet accessible, it appears to be a good indication that Tesla intends to offer Model S and Model X owners the option of swapping their wheels for a standard round wheel.
However, it does not appear like the stalks will return, since Musk continues to believe that “any input is an error.”