Steer-by-wire systems replace traditional mechanical steering mechanisms that include racks and pinions with electronically controlled servos. Commonly used in airplanes, the electronic system takes inputs from the driver and relays them to electronic actuators that then control the direction of the wheels on the car.
There's a key reason why many EVs are expensive. Economies of scale just haven't kicked in as they have for gas cars. Over 100-plus years of building dino-burners, we've gotten pretty good at every individual part. There are plenty of firms that can build fuel pumps, turbochargers, alternators, and radiators at scale, leveraging hundreds of thousand-unit volumes to drive per-unit costs down.