BMW might revive declining manual stick shifters

The phrase driving a stick might soon be a thing of the past as more automakers are offering manual transmissions through paddle shifters than the traditional stick we have come to love. Compared to current range of 5 to 6 geared manual transmissions, automated transmissions with 7 or more gears have an improved fuel efficiency as the extra gears provide better fuel economy.

A traditional manual shifter has limitations when it comes to spacing the gears as they can become too close to each other. Recently a patent filed by BMW has been discovered that shows the company exploring a manual transmission with 7 gears, similar to what Porsche has done in the new 911 (991).

Within the patent application, BMW has described problems that may arise by adding more than 6 gears. According to BMW, an 8 speed manual transmission would need four shift gates and that is more gears than a normal driver can handle safely or practically. BMW's aims to solve this through a manual shifter that only allows the driver to shift into proper gears with shift gates surrounded by a magnetorheologic or electrorheologic fluid.

Technically the system uses various sensors, and a computerized shifting module which calculates which gears are proper to select, given the driving situation. To prevent an improper shift, a magnetic field or electric voltage is applied to some fluid, which physically blocks the engaging of certain gears. BMW aims to experiment the technology with either a Traditional Manual Transmission (With Clutch Pedal) or a Shift by Wire (Without Clutch Pedal) transmission.

The technology sounds interesting (and extremely technical) but we are rather glad, that BMW has discovered a potential future for the rather dying manual stick.