Nissan Adds Robot Helper To Its Concept Car

narramissic writes "Nissan has mounted a robot passenger in the dashboard of its Pivo2 concept car whose job is to keep the driver happy, give spot-on directions, and even check your e-mail. 'We have data that happy drivers' accident rates are drastically lower than depressed ones, so this robot stays there to make sure the driver is happy always,' said Masato Inoue, chief designer at Nissan's exploratory design group, in an interview at the Motor Show. 'This guides the driver and sometimes cheers up the driver. For example, if the driver is irritated it might say 'Hey, you look somehow angry. Why? Please calm down.'' Other features of this vehicle include a cabin that can turn through 360 degrees so you never have to worry about looking behind when you back up and wheels that can twist 90 degrees, eliminating the need to parallel park." The article includes a video of the car talking to the driver, which is kind of adorable in a 'future is now' sorta way.

Ridin Shotgun

[mastershake_phd]

Man this thing might cheer you up for a little while, but the novelty will quickly wear off, especially after you realize how much money you spent on your robot co-pilot.

Re:Pivo?

[Anonymous Coward]

dunno... but its how you say "beer" in slovenian...

Electric Cars

[Anonymous Coward]

Another motor show, another concept car with useless features. Has anyone noticed that these concept cars mostly never see the day on the road? I'd like to see these electric cars for sale but without the ridiculous design. Can't they just make a normal electric car? It's more like there is a consipiracy or something that the automakers continue to churn out these concept cars that no ordinary people will be willing to buy.

I can't believe these companies waste so much money on developing hybrids, fuel cells, etc. but don't sell just a simple electric car with better batteries. There's no way the amount of energy generated from a vehicle would be more efficient than by power utility companies. If they are really serious about saving the environment as they claim, they must sell electric cars.