At the Fifteenth World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems next week, Nissan Motors will be displaying its "All-Around Collision-Free" system prototype. The system works to prevent collisions of many kinds through vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication systems. This is the next step in Nissan’s continuous quest to make car accidents a thing of the past.
The prototype vehicle in question, an Infiniti QX45 SUV, is fitted with an array of sensors and microprocessors that constantly monitor its surroundings. The vehicles sensors then communicate with pre-installed sensor units all over the car’s intended traffic route. The plan is that, in the future, these units will be installed everywhere and the cars will communicate with them while you’re driving.
For instance, if you’re not paying attention and are about to run a red light, the car will "sense" what you’re doing and stop itself, independent of what you do. This way we can stop accidents before they start. The system will still allow you to drive but it also keeps an eye out for you.
Still, some are very skeptical of the technology. The ability to trust a machine to drive for you is still a bit too much for some people to deal with. If that’s the case with you, then take this into account. Every time you fly on a commercial airliner, you’re experiencing the work of an "auto-pilot". Once those big planes hit a certain altitude, the pilots just hit a button and let the computers take it from there.
So if you can trust a 40-ton airliner’s computer, it should handle your Nissan just fine. Nissan says this technology is still in its infancy, but more is learned every day. They have only been researching this for about three years now so there is still lots to learn. The company hopes to implement what they learn with this research into future Nissan models.
Just ask "HAL" where you want to go.
Source: Inside Line
Photos: Nissan Motor Corporation Inc.
