This General Motors prototype had a yoke, four-wheel steering and satellite navigation 35 years ago.

Key Highlights

• Today, steering yokes and touchpad controls are considered cutting-edge automotive technology, but a General Motors prototype featured all of these features and more 35 years ago.
• The 1987 Pontiac Pursuit was designed to demonstrate what automobiles would look like in the then-future year 2000.
• "Additionally, the steering technology enables the Pursuit to crab walk sideways, similar to the GMC Hummer EV.
• Nonetheless, it laid the groundwork for GM's all-electric Impact concept and eventual EV1 production vehicle.

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Today, steering yokes and touchpad controls are considered cutting-edge automotive technology, but a General Motors prototype featured all of these features and more 35 years ago.

The 1987 Pontiac Pursuit was designed to demonstrate what automobiles would look like in the then-future year 2000. MotorWeek just uploaded a vintage review to YouTube as part of its Retro Review series.

Pontiac's designers and engineers got a few things right, including satellite navigation—or, at the very least, the concept of it—along with integrated display panels. Other features were a little out of the ordinary.

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Source: MotorWeek

The Pursuit also included a steering yoke with two huge handles and a number of thumb-activated toggles for a computerised driver display, similar to the yoke launched with the Tesla Model S. While Tesla's version functions similarly to a normal steering wheel, the Pursuit's yoke rotates just 180 degrees lock-to-lock.

This is because the yoke was designed to function with a four-wheel drive-by-wire steering system that does not require any mechanical connection to the road. As a result, the reviewer noted a "complete absence of road feel."

Additionally, the steering technology enables the Pursuit to crab walk sideways, similar to the GMC Hummer EV. Tesla has also stated that it will incorporate comparable technology into the Cybertruck, though it is unknown when that pickup will enter production.

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Source: MotorWeek

The interior featured front bucket seats with integrated four-point harnesses, integrated rear child seats, and integrated displays for rear-seat passengers—similar to many modern family vehicles' rear-seat entertainment systems.

One technological advancement was missing from Pontiac: electricity. A turbo-4 gasoline engine powers the Pursuit. Nonetheless, it laid the groundwork for GM's all-electric Impact concept and eventual EV1 production vehicle. The Pursuit's styling also incorporates elements of the "kammback" design, which remains the future of automobiles for aerodynamic reasons.

While much of the technology demonstrated in the Pursuit is now a reality, there is one benefit that engineers could not have expected at the time: the kind of continuous, incremental battery progress that has enabled a 500-mile electric vehicle to be built without significant packing compromises.