All of the past efforts to change the steering wheel have been funny. There is also a yoke. They’re just easy to use if your driving system was made to work with couplings from the start. German news outlets say that Mercedes-Benz won’t stop putting collars in its most expensive cars, the S-Class and EQS. The yoke will be added to the next-generation S-Class in late 2027, says the German newspaper Handelsblatt, citing proof “from company circles.” Mercedes likes the collar because it gives the driver a better view of the road and the instruments and may allow the steering wheel to fold into the dashboard, making more room inside. (This could also be true when using Mercedes’s innovative Level 3 driver aid.) Mercedes will remove the steering column in the S-Class and replace it with a system called “steer-by-wire.” This will let the yoke work without moving it with both hands. This would make driving more responsive at slow speeds but less responsive on the highway. The system might be used for the first time in 2025 or 2026 when the EQS is likely to be changed. Tesla was the first to make the yoke famous with its Model S Plaid. Since then, a standard round steering wheel has taken place, but the collar is still an option. It had problems with usefulness and quality, which may be why Toyota needs to start making the yoke. Even though it said “available,” neither the BZ4X nor the Lexus RZ has collars as a choice right now. If Mercedes used the yoke, it would be like their other UX ideas, which could have been better. Its old navigation system was awkward and hard to use, and the new MBUX system and “Hyperscreen” that goes with it aren’t much better. Mercedes also uses capacitive touch screens a lot, which are not widespread and need to be fixed. The change will only happen once several models are redesigned, and capacitive buttons are likely to stay on those models. But the company wants to eliminate these and replace them with physical controls. Switching at this point would be hard because companies like Mercedes are big and slow to change. Turning a spaceship takes a long time, and the company wants to make its cars hard to use.
