Pedals with haptic feedback could make you a better driver
Bosch is working on how to save fuel (and the environment) without nagging
Here’s one way to cure your lead foot driving style – pedals that push you back.
Bosch is working on what it calls an ‘active gas pedal‘, which uses haptic feedback to improve your driving and reduce the amount of fuel your car guzzles.
The pedal would hook up to your car’s electronics systems to monitor the engine, transmission and safety systems, as well as your speed and the outside temperature to work out weather conditions.
It would then subtly vibrate to let you know it’s time to change gears, or actually push back against your foot if there’s no need to accelerate.
Bosch reckons the pedal could lower fuel consumption by as much as 7%. It certainly sounds less distracting than a light on the dashboard or a voice through the stereo speakers.
Eventually, pedals like this could look at the route you’ve got tapped into the sat-nav and remind you not to take particular corners like you’re on a World Rally stage.
Gas guzzlers aren’t the only cars that would benefit – the pedal could let you know when a hybrid is about to switch from electric to petrol.
And when vehicle-to-vehicle communication becomes a reality, pedals like this could warn you of stopped cars ahead of you, or potholes in the road that have caught out other drivers.
Pedals that push back against your foot aren’t completely new, as Nissan uses its own ECO pedal system for the Leaf electric car. Bosch looks like the first with vibrations and other haptic feedback though.
Bosch already supplies parts to BMW, Mercedes, VW, Porsche and others, so while it’s still a prototype right now, there’s a possibility it could eventually make it into a car you’ll actually be able to buy.
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Tom Morgan-Freelander
Deputy Editor 
