Off late, Maruti-Suzuki has created a ton of hype by launching their Celerio hatchback with the common man’s automatic gearbox, the automated manual transmission or AMT. For the past few decades in automotive history, the rapid progress in the technology of automatic gearboxes has effectively nullified the necessity of manual operation of the gears using the clutch pedal and gear lever.
However, they are often expensive to manufacture and usually sit in the premium pricing bracket away from the affordability of the masses. But now with the usage of the AMT, car manufacturers can also aim for the budget segments to provide the convenience of use associated with an automatic gearbox. Let’s take a look at how this Formula-1 derived technology functions and the various pros and cons associated with it.
In the current car market three widely used types of automatic gearboxes already exist namely, the CVT (Constantly Variable Transmission), the DCT (Dual Clutch Transmission) and the Simple Automatic Transmission. All of these use a gear and clutch arrangement much more complex and completely different from the conventional manual gearbox. The AMT, however, uses the exact same gear and clutch setup as seen in a manual transmission.
The only difference that arises is in the way they are operated. In place of a gear lever and a clutch pedal inside the cabin of the car, which are manually operated by the driver, the AMT transmission has a hydraulic actuator system mounted inside the engine which operates both. The actuators of the AMT system are linked to the ECU of the car, which gives it the input and the output goes to the gears and clutch.
The gear shift pattern is pre-programmed from the factory and that data is stored by the ECU. So whenever the RPM climbs to a certain level, the ECU automatically controls the actuators to operate both the clutch and gearbox in synchronisation.
This functions exactly like an automatic gearbox as there is no clutch pedal and in some cases, there isn’t even a gear lever inside the cabin (as seen in the Renault Kwid). Although in most cases, there is a gear lever with the three drive modes, R (Reverse), N (Neutral) and D (Drive). There is also an option of shifting into manual mode just parallel to the Drive mode.
In the manual mode, the gear operation is significantly simple, move the lever forward to shift into a higher gear and move it backwards to shift into a lower gear, no clutch and no multi-directional shift paths.
The introduction of AMT into the Indian market is a much-appreciated move by auto manufacturers. Traffic is worsening day by day and it is indeed very appealing to have the convenience of an automatic gearbox at a very marginal premium over the manual transmission. Sure it has a few rough edges, but for the price you pay, it is a very lucrative addition to opt for. Technology is developing at a rapid rate and over time you will only see the AMT’s get better and better.
What are your thoughts on the automated manual transmission? Let us know in the comment section below.
Hi S. Sriram Sir,
Warm Greetings Of The Day.
How Are You ?
I Appreciate Your Knowledge And Write Up About Automated Manual Transmission.
I Just Wanted To Convey One Thing That AMT Is Very Much FUN to Drive In All Conditions. This Totally Differs From Person To Person. I Personally Like To Drive NEXA IGNIS AMT (Petrol And Diesel Both) And Doesn’t Gives Jerks At All. This Is Not True For All The AMTs But This Car Is Exceptional. To Enjoy A AMT One Should Know How To Drive A AMT. One Should Know How To Utilize The Maximum Power From AMT. Some OF The Superb Features Of AMT Are As Follows “Step Down” Function Is Used For Overtaking And It Works Great !! “Crawl” Function Is The Function With Which You Don’t Have To Accelerate The Car For Initial Forward Move. “Shift On Fly” Function Is The Function With Which You Can Shift From Manual Mode To Auto Mode Without Any Hassle; In Moving Car As well.
Overall AMT is Very Much Sporty, Hassle Free, FUN to Drive. I personally Love To Use A AMT/CVT over Manual Gear Box.
Thanks For Your Precious Time.
Regards,
Darshan A. Khairnar
9773552882