Lexus steer by wire technology confirmed for Australia
The first is a special version of the Lexus RZ electric car - the RZ 550e F Sport.
But Lexus says it already has plans to expand a new 'steer-by-wire' system to other vehicles.
Yasuyuki Terada, lead engineer on the RZ, said 'steer-by-wire is one of the core technologies for Lexus'.
'So definitely it will not end at RZ. We plan on expansion into other models,' he said.
Steer-by-wire changes how cars have been driven since their invention.
Typically, cars have mechanical connections between the steering wheel and tyres; steer-by-wire, on the other hand, is fully computerised.
It uses an actuator to interpret the driver's right and left turns, then electrically delivers those signals to the steering rack.
In the same way that video games apply software to transfer driving inputs into simulated car behaviour, the Lexus uses clever coding to translate driver input into real-world results where the rubber meets the road.
Terada said it will eventually reduce manufacturing costs, and ready cars for autonomous driving, but only if consumers respond well.
'[It's] conditional on us getting the number and the volume out into the marketplace. including the software and development [which] costs the majority.'
With no steering column, cars manufactured exclusively with steer-by-wire systems will also be much easier to convert from right to left-hand drive, and vice versa.
This could eventually mean that Australia misses out on fewer cars that have been prioritised for left-hand-drive markets.
With autonomous cars well on their way (and working as taxis in parts of America), the potential to have stowable steering wheels will open up new possibilities for how a car cabin functions and is designed.
As for drivers today, they'll feel the biggest difference at low speeds, like when parking and navigating narrow roads.
With no fixed connection to the steering rack, fewer rotations of the wheel are needed to manoeuvre the car. Lexus's RZ 550e F Sport, for example, has a maximum 200-degree rotation between straight and full-lock - a little more than half a turn either side of centre.
Such a system could fail to provide tactile feedback on the condition of the road, which drivers usually feel through the steering wheel.
Lexus says they've overcome that.
Of course, for steer-by-wire to be a success, customers will have to get on board.
This isn't the first time similar technology has been used in Australia.
In 2014 the Infiniti Q50 used steer-by-wire, but with additional mechanical backups should the systems fail.

This was, by no means, an untroubled vehicle.
The Q50 received bad reviews for its inconsistent handling, and faced recalls for a bug in their steering technology, which 'tugged' the car in the wrong direction.
It was eventually removed from future models.
But Lexus is hopeful that customers will give their technology – which has been in development for about a decade – a chance.
'We believe that the end users and the customers in the Australian market will accept it as a brand new technology … we need to make sure that we send that message out.'
As Lexus is owned by the Toyota group, it's likely we'll see other brands in their suite pick up the steer-by-wire technology in the future.
'The potential is obviously there,' Terada said
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