with the advent of drive by wire (or more properly, shift by wire) computer controlled transmissions (particularly in the case of automatics), the gear stick no longer needs to be mechanically connected to the transmission unit itself, and can therefore be made much smaller since there is no need to package either remote mechanisms or complex interlocking arrangements. this has allowed designers to replace the gear stick completely with either buttons, rotary knobs (current jaguar, land rover and ford models are good examples of this), or a miniaturized gear stick on the centre console. this can be seen in some audis, bmws and the lincoln continental. japanese finger shift is another example. it is a revival of an approach used in the 1950s by the chrysler push button powerflite and the .