Here's a Japanese concept car that I think would sweep the American market if it ever sold here. It's the Nissan Pivo 2, unveiled at last year's Tokyo Motor Show.
The wheels work independently, making parallel parking a breeze. You just pull up to the space you want to park in, change the direction of the wheels, and glide in. The whole passenger pod can turn 360 degrees, so you can face the space you're moving into, even if the rest of the body is facing the other way. An earlier version of the Pivo could lean backward and forward as it turned. It's easy to imagine a later version making sudden, quirky changes of direction, like a family pet.
But there's more! The car features a movable robot head that that talks to you, suggests alternative routes, tells jokes, tells you what needs fixing and what groceries you wanted to buy, and watches to see if you're dozing off so it can wake you. It contains facial recognition software so it'll recognize and talk to your friends, too.
If you were to approach the locked car from the outside, and click your key chain beeper to unlock it, the passenger pod might revolve to face you, and maybe even lean toward you a little and appear to pant. The friendly robot head would track you and flash a smile, as if it was thrilled to see you.
Do you see what I'm getting at? The entire car, not just the robot head, is a kind of pet. You develop an affection for it. That's a bold, new idea...a car that elicits emotional attachment from the owner. I predict Nissan is going to make a lot of money with this! Why didn't Americans think of this? Where was General Motors?
Don't expect to see it on the road for another five or six years. The car runs on lithium batteries, which aren't practical yet, and it has a top speed of only 60 miles an hour. And there's safety issues. That's OK, it'll be worth the wait. Imagine what the robot'll be able to do five years from now! You'll be able to have conversations with it!
26 comments:
You're right, it is cute, hahaha!
I think I saw that car in SLEEPER back in 1973. (Of course, it was supposed to take place in 2173 - even though they were still using computer tape in one scene.)
It would be nice to have a little robot attached to my car. We would sing with the radio and make remarks about the traffic. I don't know what it would say about back seat activities,(winkwink, nudgenudge) but I'd never been into that sort of thing anyways.
Current model is good for urban and suburban motoring. The design makes it about as crash resistant as a Daihatsu (I used to own a few, very peppy, could park anywhere, excellent mpg, as fragile as an egg). If I know My Fair Lady KeLaine, I could hear her whimper, "I want it!"
It is a cute car, but I prefer something a little rugged, but with all aforementioned features.
The affectionate robo-servants is something that is being pursued aggressively in Japan. Not only your car, but also mechanical attendants in nursing homes, a portable or pocket concierge for travelers (something like an intelligent iPhone with Bluetooth), a home or other domicile that recognizes, serves and protects its occupants, vehicles that obey local and state traffic ordinances while protecting occupants within and pedestrians and other riders without.
The technology is all set to go now, but implementation will be casual to overcome cultural shock to technologies that eliminate much of the mundane decision making processes in our lives. What we are all going to use our collective brain power in meantime is anybody's guess, but I hope it doesn't lead down a path towards this.
Khaki: I picture the robot being shocked to stuttering by backseat activities.
Last: The Japanese investment in personal robotics is going to reap big dividends right around the corner. Since I'm a big booster of America it makes me really frustrated to see our country fall behind here. U.S. companies, including animation companies, need to be more creative and competitive.
I dunno... I'd sorta prefer a '59 Cadillac. I feel that today's slinky cars are getting less and less good-looking and more bland. That car's kinda nice, though.
people (well, me, anyways) have been giving their car names for years, but this adds takes it to a whole new level of man-car emotional attachments! I want one of these!
I love the personal robot. I need one of those to explain my cell phone to me.
The only down side to this car is that it won't get you laid. If they do a Hello Kitty edition, someone's going to make me buy one.
How does a person get inside?
"Beam me in, Scotty"?
What "back seat activities?" There's more room in a phone booth, if those still existed.
Am I the only one severely turned off and frightened by this.... thing?
- trevor.
Mike's right. it does look like the thing in Sleeper@
I made a little comic about the inevitable outcome of this car. (Hopefully Blogger will stop breaking these links.)
Part1
Part2
Part3
Bet they can't make a pickup truck of one of these without blue collars everywhere freaking out. (Not in a good way of freaking out, the bad way).
PS: My bad. I should have put up a picture showing the driver entering from the front. The dashboard and robot head are on the front door, infront of the driver.
Tevor: Well it's a girl's car, really. I think you'd find a masculine version more appealing.
It definitely appeals to the Japanese aesthetic of round, pastel and cute. Americans won't go for it. Maybe you'll see a couple puttering around San Francisco, or Cambridge MA but its going to need more angles for it to sell in the heartland.
Zoe: Haw! Yes, I can see that in the future, too!
Adam: I'll put up a manly version of it.
I'm not a fan of this car, it looks too contemporary and too cute and too girly and too Japanese.
I don't know what it is about Japanese culture that I dislike so much, but I've never found a weaboo thing I've liked. Maybe it was my bad boyhood experience with the Otaku back in the web 1.0 days. *shudder*
The only modern car I like is the Morgan Lifecar, it looks like something out of Metropolis.
As always you put the articles I love!
I found more info for you:
http://s.wsj.net/article/SB120422248421700325.html
Regards
There's more with a video included!:
http://blog.wired.com/cars/2007/10/nissan-previews.html#more
Denise: Interesting article about the new generation of Japanese declining to buy cars! Good video of the Pivo, too!
Jorge: Wow! That Morgan looks like something out of Batman! They should try some affordable cars that look like that!
The best looking affordable car is the Pontiac Solstice. That is one sweet ride.
Cars are so ugly now, thanks to Ralph Nader, who bitched about cars with fins on them in 1960 because they were "fatal" and "dangerous."
This car is a TOY. Japan just doesn't have open roads, everyone takes their bullet trains for trips over 10 miles. Small cars like this will never graduate outside major metro areas, Americans have too much land mass to drive around in a toy like this. It'll sell a few in SF maybe, but seriously.
I don't know if it'll make anyone feel better about the car, but "pivo" means "beer" in Slovenian and Croatian; so, you know, it can't be all bad...
It's like something from a glitzy Pixar film. What is this, Shigeru Miyamoto's wet dream?
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