Mercedes-Benz will be the first German automaker to offer true steer-by-wire when it launches the system on the 2027 EQS-Class, following the Tesla Cybertruck and Nio ET9 that eliminated their reconnectable steering shafts.
All three systems employ redundant hardware—dual power supplies, separate communications paths and dual-winding motors—and add a third set of steering-angle sensors to arbitrate disagreements; Nio and Mercedes use materially different CPUs, software and hardware to reduce common-cause failures and both have national safety certifications, while Tesla has provided less system transparency.
When a fault is detected Mercedes-Benz limits the EQS to a 54 mph limp mode and restricts range to allow exiting long tunnels such as Norway’s 15.2-mile Laerdal, and Nio follows a similar conservative approach, while Tesla displays warnings and generally allows continued use of a backup mode with less reduction in functionality.
The Mercedes-Benz, Nio and Tesla implementations reflect different priorities on documented failover and certification versus less-publicized fallback behavior, highlighting divergent approaches to steer-by-wire safety.
This article is based on reporting from MotorTrend.
Read the full article at MotorTrend.
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