Common knowledge would suggest that the age-old two-pedal driving system exists for a reason. Something to do with people panicking and hitting the gas instead of the brake while operating a two-ton piece of metal powered by a combustion engine.
But apparently there’s another way.
Nissan just dropped the curtains on an upcoming edition of their electric Leaf, and — like an amusement park car — it comes equipped with just one pedal. That means no separate brake and gas. And we can imagine it’s going to take some getting used to.
The next-generation tech is called the e-Pedal system. That pedal will be responsible for accelerating, slowing and stopping, which simplifies driver actions and also recoups energy drains during deceleration, according to the company.
So, uh, how’s that actually work? Via “full foot control,” wherein letting off the pedal will slow your roll, while removing your foot from it completely will bring the vehicle to a stop.
We expect it to take a while for the system to become intuitive to drivers, but at the end of the day, it makes perfect innovative sense. A decade from now, we may be wondering why we haven’t been doing this all along.
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