Patent ID: 8359943

Claim:
A by-wire gearshift device for shifting gear positions of an automatic transmission for a vehicle, the gearshift device comprising: a housing fixed to the vehicle; a shaft-shaped gearshift member arranged in the housing in a partially exposed state so as to be rotatable relative to the housing about a rotation axis and movable sidewards in at least a first direction that intersects the rotation axis, with the gearshift member being rotatable to a plurality of rotation positions respectively corresponding to the gear positions of the automatic transmission; a movement restriction unit arranged between the gearshift member and the housing which permits movement of the gearshift member in the first direction only when the gearshift member is rotated to a selected one of the rotation positions to determine shifting to the gear position corresponding to the selected one of the rotation positions; a detector which detects movement of the gearshift member in the first direction and generates a first detection signal in accordance with the selected one of the rotation positions; and a control unit which generates and provides the automatic transmission with a gearshift control signal corresponding to the selected one of the rotation positions based on the first detection signal from the detector, wherein the shifting of the gear position requires a two-step operation including rotation of the gearshift member to a rotated position corresponding to the gear position and movement of the gearshift member in the first direction from the rotated position for each of the plurality of rotation positions; and wherein the movement restriction unit includes: a fitting projection arranged in the housing; and a plurality of fitting recesses to which the fitting projection is fittable arranged in the gearshift member, in which the quantity of the fitting recesses corresponds to the quantity of the rotation positions, wherein the fitting projection is fittable to a corresponding one of the fitting recesses when the gearshift member is at the selected one of the rotation positions.