Inside the Foldable Steering Wheel Changing Autonomous Mobility

Autonomous mobility has long promised safer roads, fewer collisions, and more productive travel time. Yet the physical reality inside the vehicle has lagged behind the software revolution. Steering wheels, dashboards, and fixed layouts remain rooted in a driving-centric past, even as vehicles increasingly take control themselves. Against this backdrop, Autoliv and Tensor have introduced a development that signals a decisive shift in how vehicle interiors are conceived. By co-developing the world’s first foldable steering wheel for the Tensor Robocar, the two companies are challenging one of the most entrenched components of automotive design. Rather than treating the steering wheel as an immovable constant, the system recognises that control itself is now dynamic. Sometimes the human drives. Sometimes the vehicle does. The hardware, finally, is catching up.