Google's prototypes of driverless cars don't have steering wheels. Simply put, they don't need them. That's because the driving system is the driver, not the human occupant.

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Arguably, steering wheel-less cars are the future of mobility. Turns out, though, their existence might be holding back widespread acceptance of self-driving technology.

Before we get to why, let's first take a quick look at what exactly qualifies as an autonomous car.

Semi vs. full autonomy

Obviously, an autonomous car is one that can drive itself. However, there are cars with autonomous or "piloted" systems on the road today that can drive themselves for short distances on the freeway without a driver's input, like Tesla's Autopilot or Audi's Traffic Jam Assist.

These are referred to as "semi-autonomous" systems. That's because the driver is the safety backup. At any given moment, Autopilot or Traffic Jam Assist could ask the human driver to retake control of the car.

Google's self-driving prototype interior. Image: Andrej Sokolow/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images

Accordingly, fully autonomous cars have not only more sensors throughout the car than semi-autonomous vehicles but also redundant systems for the braking and steering, etc. Heck, there will even need to be a backup battery onboard a fully autonomous car. Semi-autonomous cars don't have these redundancies.

An autonomous car will need to never rely on the human occupant. Otherwise, what's the point?

Autonomous cars have these redundant systems as a technical fail-safe. Moreover, though, they're there because an autonomous car will need to handle all driving situations and never rely on the human occupant. Otherwise, what's the point?

So while it's essential that a Tesla Model X or an Audi Q7 with a semi-autonomous driving system also have a steering wheel, it's not a critical component for a fully autonomous car.

Lose the wheel

Google isn't the only company testing autonomous cars. Virtually every major automaker is testing self-driving systems, from Kia to Land Rover.

Volvo, in addition to putting 100 fully autonomous cars into the hands of Swedish customers in 2017 as a part of its Drive Me program, has also been surveying drivers about their opinions on self-driving technology called the Future of Driving debate.

Of the many questions in the survey, there are a couple of figures that relate to the autonomous-car steering wheel debate:

43% of people would be comfortable in an autonomous car without a steering wheel.

93% of people agree they should be able to take control of autonomous cars at any moment.

The first statistic demonstrates that Google's steering wheel-less prototype might indeed be holding back autonomy. Clearly, the majority of people are not comfortable in a steering wheel-less car. The second, however, shows either a distrust or misunderstanding of autonomous cars. Likely, it's a combination of both.

Really, though, whether a self-driving car has a steering wheel or not doesn't matter: It will behave the same. When in autonomous mode, your car's steering wheel will be useless anyhow. What's more, you'll have to trust the tech just the same. Let me explain.

Trust

When Google first started testing its autonomous cars, it handed out a fleet of them to Google employees. It reiterated that, at that point, the car was not foolproof; it could malfunction and the human driver would have to take over. Really that system was likely akin to a semi-autonomous drive system where the human is ultimately responsible for the driving.

Even though the Google drivers knew the cars weren't fail-safe, they still treated them as such. Google's Director of Self-Driving Cars Chris Urmson recounted at South by Southwest Interactive 2016 that some Googlers would even recline their seats while the car was driving down the freeway.

Googlers would even recline their seats while the car was driving down the freeway.

Amazingly, this isn't a unique occurrence. Even Tesla CEO Elon Musk admitted the company would be putting constraints on the company's Autopilot after videos popped up on the web of people doing "crazy things" with it, like climbing in the backseat while Autopilot was engaged.

Horrified at the actions of its own employees' actions, Google doubled down on autonomous tech and made it robust enough that people could check out from the driving responsibility without being unsafe. At the same time, Google explicitly designed its prototype pod cars without a steering wheel.

According to Google, it takes a driver 17 seconds to respond to an autonomous car's prompts to retake control of the vehicle. A lot can happen in 17 seconds at 70 mph. It's for this reason that Google believes having a steering wheel in its self-driving prototypes would make them inherently less safe.

What's more, with its prototypes, Google is looking to build something completely different — taking the "car" out of autonomous car. Basically, Google wants occupants of its self-driving vehicles to think of them not as a you drive (which you can't), but rather a device that takes you from A to B.

Tuck-away wheel

Arguably, that's an extreme way to face the dilemma of making it clear to occupants that autonomous cars are in full control.

Volvo, on the other hand, requires its autonomous Pilot Assist system to be engaged and disengaged with a deliberate and long procedure. When prompted, drivers will have to pull and hold two paddles mounted behind the steering wheel for 20 seconds to engage Autopilot.

A Volvo engineer explained the Swedish carmaker chose this strategy because the autonomous driving system can't be accidentally activated or disabled by, say, a driver accidentally nudging the steering wheel, stepping on the brake pedal or a rambunctious child hitting a button by accident.

Once Pilot Assist is engaged, the driver has delegated driving to the car and he or she can pay attention to something else like, say, reading or racking up a new high score on Astro Attack.

Volvo imagines with its Concept 26 interior that, in the future, once Pilot Assist is running, the steering wheel will be able to tuck back against the dash and the driver will be able to sit back, relax and perhaps watch a video on a large in-dash display.

You don't want a wheel

Frankly, when it comes down to it, you don't really want a steering wheel in an autonomous car anyhow. That's because, even if it has one, when the car is driving itself, it'll be essentially decorative and not something you can just grab anytime to "go manual."

Clearly, people who haven't yet experienced riding in a self-driving car might find the concept of riding in a car without a wheel immediately unnerving. When people get inside one and have a moment to acclimate to being driven, even a semi-autonomous car, as we've seen with Tesla and Google, they immediately disengage from driving duties.

For those of you still skeptical of riding in a car without a steering wheel, let me leave you with this. You already ride in cars in which you have no control: They're called taxis. Once you can get beyond the immediate shock of sitting in the front left seat while also not being in control, it'll feel as natural as any normal passenger experience.

BONUS: A manual to self-driving cars: How they work and where they're headed

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