Nissans Shouldn’t Crash

Nissan - BR23C Robot Car

Thai Automaxx has an article up on the latest collison avoidance technologies at Nissan entitled “Nissan announces RB23C – Crash avoidance robotic car inspired by flight of the Bumblebee.” At CEATEC Japan 2008 Nissan unveiled the BR23C Robot Car, a robotic micro-car that mimics the instincts of a bumblebee to avoid accidents. It is set-up as the last line of defense in Nissan’s Safety Shield, and is designed to react in the blink of an eye. According to Toshiyuki Andou, Manager of Nissan’s Mobility Laboratory:

“The split second it detects an obstacle, the car robot will mimic the movements of a bee and instantly change direction by turning its wheels at right angles or greater to avoid a collision.

“The biggest difference to any current system is that the avoidance maneuver is totally instinctive. If that was not so, then the car robot would not be able to react fast enough to avoid obstacles.”

The article does not say when we might see this technology in production models, but hopefully the results of this project will create a safer car that can navigate past even the most seemingly unavoidable obstacles.