With its new design, Ford aims to remove some of the negative associations drivers have with manual transmission vehicles, which has led some big automakers,The patent, for a"manual transmission with [an] electric clutch", shows off a design that features a control module that automatically actuates the clutch, meaning the driver can easily shift gears by moving the gear stick alone.
It does this via a master cylinder linked to an electric actuator to pressurize the clutch release hydraulics. The design, which does allow for a foot pedal to be added for those who want it, was revealed in a patent application filed by Ford with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in December 2018, though the filing was only made public in November.
Clutch must be built-in button on gear shift
It was always obvious that you could use a hand-actuated mechanism to release and engage a clutch. Likely safer than a pedal, too.
Alfa Romeo selespeed is also a manual transmission without a clutch. Typical Alfa, if you did a corner too fast it made the gearbox computer reboot and start randomly selecting gears.
Saab did this years ago in the early 9-3s. I test drove one, it work perfectly right till you needed to do a hill start.