The stalks are gone.
In some cars, the giant touchscreen acts as the shifter.
There’s a quick video that explains how it works.
Of the number of updates and changes made to the 2021 Tesla Model S And X, the most noteworthy ones surround the steering column. The steering wheel itself is now a “yoke” style and behind it, where there used to be stalks, well, there are none.
Ok, so this is how u change gears on the new S/X 🤔😎@elonmusk @tesla pic.twitter.com/dXtsSzQBAS
— Michael Hsu (@hsumacher) March 24, 2021
Most of the controls are now positioned on the steering wheel and are force touch buttons. The other, perhaps more important functions, were “gear” selection. Going forward, selecting gears, will be done via the new larger horizontal screen as demonstrated in a tweet shared by Electrek.
The source story shares a section of a document they obtained from Tesla that explains what “Smart Shift” is:
“The vehicle uses its Autopilot sensors to intelligently and automatically determine intended drive modes and select them. For example, if the front of Model S/X is facing a garage wall, it will detect this and automatically shift to Reverse once the driver presses the brake pedal. This eliminates one more step for the drivers of the world’s most intelligent production cars.”
Updated Tesla Model S Gets New Powertrain And Unique Steering Wheel
Exactly how all this is going to work is still unclear as some prototypes have been spotted with the controls on the central display while others did not have them.
