Wired for speed [Big picture]

WHAT IF WE PUT ALL the electric-vehicle innovations that automakers have been introducing piecemeal into one car? Well, it happened, and here's the result. Instead of a steering wheel, this research vehicle, called the SpeedE, has a sidestick steering system electronically connected to actuators that enable the wheels to turn completely sideways. The designers, led by a team from the Institute for Automotive Engineering at RWTH Aachen University, in Germany, also incorporated driveby- wire and brake-bywire systems to eliminate the heavy mechanical components that normally control speed. In their place are wires that link the accelerator to motors at the rear axle and link the brake pedal to four electrohydraulic brake actuators. The actuators kick in to slow the vehicle, maintain stability control, and turn some of the kinetic energy of the car's momentum into electricity, which is returned to the EV's batteries