Patent ID: 7142963

Claim:
A vehicle comprising: a chassis; at least three wheels operatively connected with respect to the chassis; a steer-by-wire system mounted with respect to the chassis and responsive to non-mechanical control signals; a brake-by-wire system mounted with respect to the chassis and responsive to non-mechanical control signals; an energy conversion system mounted with respect to the chassis and responsive to non-mechanical control signals; a support post supported with respect to the chassis; a steering ring rotatably supported with respect to the support post and engaged with a steering transducer to convert mechanical rotation of the steering ring into non-mechanical steering control signals to be sent to the steer-by-wire system; a braking ring operatively connected adjacent the steering ring and engaged with a braking transducer to convert mechanical motion of the braking ring into non-mechanical braking control signals to be sent to the brake-by-wire system; and an acceleration ring operatively connected adjacent the steering ring and engaged with an acceleration transducer to convert mechanical motion of the acceleration ring into non-mechanical acceleration control signals to be sent to the energy conversion system.