Toyota Might Be Cooking Up A Manual Gearbox That Acts Like An Auto

When is a manual not a manual? When it’s this bizarre partially automated transmission proposed by Toyota. Revealed via a patent published this month, it’s operated like a normal, three-pedal manual, but when the car is coasting, an electronic control unit is able to disengage the clutch and drop the engine speed, presumably to save fuel in the same way an automatic can.

It goes further than that, by employing locking pins that stop the driver shifting to an inappropriate gear while in the coasting mode, preventing the engine being either lugged or over-revved. While it looks like the point of the exercise is efficiency, the technology could have added benefits for drivers less experienced with a manual gearbox.

Whether or not the concept actually ends up being used, we’ll have to wait and see, but whatever happens, it’s another sign that the automotive industry still has developments in mind for the humble manual. Only recently, German components firm Schaeffler revealed a new clutch system that allows for a manual gearbox to be used on a hybrid powertrain.

By the looks of it, then, we’ll be able to row through the gears of our cars for a few decades more…

Source: US Patent and Trademark Office via Roadshow