Toyota has reportedly filed eight new patents in the United States. The material is an electric vehicle of the future with a manual transmission.
The news that was first revealed by Forum BZ shows several new technologies proposed by Toyota, including simulation of the clutch pedal, shifting gears, and methods of stopping the flow of torque like a car with a combustion engine.
“This electric vehicle includes a gear lever and a clutch pedal for the realization of the vehicle's manual gearshift. The shift lever is operated by the driver to select a virtual gearshift mode,” states one of the patents.
See also: Honda CEO Toshiro Mibe criticizes Toyota plans for hydrogen-fueled cars
Launching Carscoops, the patent filed by Toyota is equipped with three different driving modes.
The first mode requires the driver to use the clutch and shift gears. While the second mode provides the option of not needing to step on the clutch to make it easier for the driver when parking, reversing, or when stuck. And in the third mode, neither the clutch nor the shifter is used by the driver.
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However, the patent seems to suggest more drivers to use automatic mode.
However, the manual transmission mode developed by Toyota is just an engineering. Thus the driver can still feel the sensation of driving with an internal combustion car.
The embedded manual transmission mode can be seen on the display screen. But cars don't really have manual transmissions.
