Today at the Tokyo motor show, Nissan has unveiled a concept vehicle that it says embodies the brand’s vision of the future of autonomous driving and zero emission EVs. Dubbed the IDS Concept, the design study also hints at the styling of the next-generation Leaf.
Presenting the car at the show, Nissan president and CEO Carlos Ghosn said: “Nissan’s forthcoming technologies will revolutionise the relationship between car and driver, and future mobility.”
Back in August 2013, Ghosn said that by 2020 Nissan plans to equip autonomous drive technology on multiple vehicles.
Some have compared a future with autonomous drive to living in a world of conveyer belts that simply ferry people from point A to B, but Nissan says its “Intelligent Driving System” promises a different vision of tomorrow.
“A key point behind the Nissan IDS Concept is communication. For autonomous drive to become reality, as a society we have to consider not only communication between car and driver but also between cars and people. The Nissan IDS Concept’s design embodies Nissan’s vision of autonomous drive as expressed in the phrase together, we ride,” says design director, Mitsunori Morita.
On the inside, there are two ways for the driver to engage with the car. “The Nissan IDS Concept has different interiors depending on whether the driver opts for Piloted Drive or Manual Drive. This was something that we thought was absolutely necessary to express our idea of autonomous drive,” explains Morita.
The cabin, for example, becomes more spacious when the driver selects Piloted Drive. In this mode, the steering wheel recedes into the centre of the instrument panel and a large flat screen comes out. Various driving-related operations are handled by artificial intelligence, voice and gestures from the driver.
When the driver selects Manual Drive, the interior changes to put the driver in control. All seats face forward. The steering wheel, which is said to take styling cues from reins for horse riding, appears along with driving meters and a heads-up display that shows route and other driving information. Interior lighting switches to blue, which is claimed to stimulate increased concentration. The designers use of hollow-structure A-pillars also helps improve visibility by reducing blind spots.
“In every situation, it is about giving the driver more choices and greater control. And the driver will remain the focus of our technology development efforts,” Ghosn said at the show.
On the outside, various exterior lights and displays convey to pedestrians and others the car’s awareness of its surroundings and signals its intentions. The car’s silver side body line, for example, is actually an LED that Nissan calls the Intention Indicator. When pedestrians or cyclists are nearby, the strip shines red, signalling that the car is aware of them. Another electronic display, which faces outside from the instrument panel, can flash messages such as “After you” to pedestrians.
“By the time Nissan Intelligent Driving technology is available on production cars, EVs will be able to go great distances on a single charge. Getting to this point will, of course, require the further evolution of batteries, but aerodynamic performance is also very important. We incorporated our most advanced aerodynamic technology in the design of the Nissan IDS Concept,” adds Morita.
The height of the full carbon-fibre body was constrained to 1,380 mm, which the designers say “sharply” minimised aerodynamic drag. Additional detailing such as the wheels with their thin fins that create tiny vortexes of air flow on the wheel’s surface further contribute to improved air flow.
Other technologies on the IDS Concept include Piloted Park that can be operated by smartphone or tablet, and wireless charging technologies.
Source: Nissan
