Strategic Analysis of Steer-by-Wire, Europe and North America, 2017

Original equipment manufacturers (OEM’s) are foisting autonomous driving technology on to the consumers. As features such as lane keeping assist, adaptive cruise control, and parking assist gain further prominence, more steering technologies are expected to disconnect drivers from driving. One such technology which is expected to revolutionize the automotive industry is Steer-by-Wire (SbW).

The steer-by-wire system comes with immediate and long-term benefits. As of today a SbW in current shape and form is a glorified Electric Power Steering (EPS) offering a quicker and more precise steering response and at the same time isolating road vibrations from, and improves the car’s active lane control system. However, a pureplay SbW will eventually make it to the industry sooner rather than later, eliminating the mechanical linkage between the steering and the wheels. Future generations of SbW will offer weight savings, reduce maintenance costs, and finally make autonomous cars a lot easier to design.

For decades SbW has been the norm in the aviation industry. In 2014, Nissan’s luxury brand, Infiniti bought SbW to the market in its Q50 named as Direct Adaptive Steer. The system used by Infiniti is widely termed as the 1st Generation SbW. Turning the steering wheel sends an electronic signal to the steering force actuator, which sends data to the electronic control unit, which forwards it to the steering angle actuator, which in turn turns the wheels. However, the 1st generation of SbW used by Infiniti did make use of the steering column in order to provide a mechanical back up if and when the electronic system failed.

A pureplay SbW will eventually eliminate the steering column in future which in turn will reduce a vehicle’s weight and therefore boost fuel economy. Moreover, eliminating these components would make it cheaper to produce left- and right-hand drive versions of the same vehicle. SbW infinitely improves steering response and precision when compared to traditional mechanical set up. Moreover, considering future vehicles are expected to be highly autonomous vehicles, ADAS functions related to steering can be performed easily as these inputs become electronic mechanical inputs.

Autonomous vehicles are finally coming of age with far reaching benefits and steer by wire is seen as the 1st step towards that age. This research service explores the future of the steer-by-wire as the industry migrates from a traditional manually driven vehicles to semi-autonomous vehicles and eventually autonomous vehicles with driver completely out of the loop.

The objectives of the study are as follows:
•     Identify the megatrends that will shape the future of Steer-by-Wire market.
•     Identify the current regulations impacting SbW technology and the amendments drafted to modify those regulations to make SbW a reality.
•     Comparative analysis of SbW with different steering systems as well as comparison between future generations of SbW systems.
•     Determine how the development in autonomous driving will affect the future of SbW market.

Some of the key questions this report will try to answer:
•     How is SbW technology better compared to the current steering solutions?
•     What are the regulatory framework for steering suppliers to adhere to provide fail safe to fail operational steering solution?
•     How is the SbW solution expected to technologically evolve by 2025?
•     Which are the future concepts that will require implementation of Steer-by-Wire in a vehicle?
•     Which factors are expected to be key adoption drivers and restraints affecting the market adoption of SbW?

The study covers North American, European and Asia Pacific regions.