Cars No One Will Drive
What does the above picture look like to you? Perhaps like the latest Fisher Price space toy for kids? Wrong. The Nissan Pivo 2, a concept car, has just been introduced at the Tokyo Motor Show. This picture features the steering, the rearview mirrors and yes, your very own R2-D2-like navigation robot. But instead of bleeps and bloops this robot can communicate with you in Japanese and English. Huh, Japan is finally considering internationalizing one of its crazy new ideas. The outside of this car looks a little like a bubble, therefore "The Bubble Car" seems to have been adopted as its unofficial title.
So what do you think?
Powered by electricity and its own driver's drunken enthusiam, it swivels (yes, swivels) and navigates through the streets backwards, forwards and even sideways. Makes parallel parking a breeze. My current approach includes avoiding parallel at all costs.
One concern I have is its battery life. You know if it's Japanese it's going to do everything but do your taxes, so how can a moderately sized lithium-ion battery last a day when cell phones and laptops barely last with moderate to adequate use?
So, perhaps there's a hurdle or two to jump, but who would seriously drive this car? I guess in the land of the small and cute it may be an ok option, but among the SUV's and Ford Trucks of the west, the bubble car would stand no chance in a highway showdown. That and you might get some strange looks from passerby's as you happily chat at your robot.
I do like that companies are thinking greener nowadays, but I have to wonder at the billions of dollars going down the drain to come up with cute little concept cars that only a few would actually want to buy. Companies like Ford and Toyota who are taking their already popular cars and adding features like the hybrid capability seem to have more of the right idea. If you want to make a concept car, at least make it hover. And I'm still waiting for my personal jet pack.
View the Nissan Pivo 2 video below:
posted by Fudocom - Celina @ 6:16 AM
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