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.

Pivo?

[Aladrin]

Isn't 'pivo' how you say 'uh oh' in Russian? (I tried to find a copy of the Sealab 2021 'uh oh' song online, but I can't now.)

The cab that rotates is neat, but it seems it would be easier to just turn the car around than bother spinning the whole cab, driving out, then spinning it back. The tires are neat, but if you have a problem with the mechanism, I bet it's a bitch to find a mechanic that can fix it without charging an arm and a leg.

Neat car, but I'm betting it stays 'concept' for quite a long time.

Fascism 2.0

[marcello_dl]

Nevermind that whatever assistant is a distraction.
The problem is that our society wants the truth to be masked. So you can dress as (we make) you want, say what (we make) you want, rebel as (we make) you want, as long as you are up against the minions like you.
You look tired and older? get your face lifted.
Pissed off in an airport? watch out, you're considered a terrorist.
Feeling depressed? get drugs first, then we can discuss what makes you feel sad, but the objective is removing your depression so you can get back together with the blissful happy ones.
Want to enjoy what your other peers apparently feel fun in a disco? try some pills.

So we disrespect our propaganda-resistant collective memory called "the elders". We feel inadequate while we are fed impossible models and we are presented as an inescapable effect of "progress" the current economy drugged by banking capital which supersedes the older concept of "creating the best product". We consider "natural law of the jungle" the planned lack of improvement of the "human resources" which are ideally disposable drones with the bare minimum of know how to accomplish a task.

"Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows."

redundant

[tolomea]

the car has a square footprint and the wheels turn through 90deg, by extension it should be trivial to turn the whole car on the spot, so why bother making the cabin independently movable?