eli5: Why does a CVT transmission still “shift” if it can be in any position and move seamlessly as they say?

Question

eli5: Why does a CVT transmission still “shift” if it can be in any position and move seamlessly as they say?

In: 579

Answer 1

You mean like an “overdrive” when you try to floor it? That’s it, I assume, just rapidly changing to a new gear ratio, and it can’t do it smooth enough so instead it jumps to that ratio (in math speak the graph of the ratio has a discontinuity jump).