Nissan Exhibits IEEE 1394-Compatible Car

Dirak writes "High-speed IEEE 1394 optical fiber networks have gone off-road with new Nissan's prototype vehicle demonstrated this year's at 11th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems. The prototype is equipped with 7 cameras on the body and a 12-inch LCD monitor in the front and another in the rear seat area. Thanks to the in-vehicle IEEE 1394 LAN, which is capable of high-speed communications at 400Mbps via optical cable, the front and the rear seat monitors can display various information simultaneously, for example. The application of optical fiber also means that the weight of the cables can be reduced to about one-half the weight of a conventional wiring harness."

Comments

Now becoming a reality for us all....

[XST1]

The car is fitted with one monitor in the front and another in the rear seat area. Depending on the chosen mode, the front seat monitor can display up to four images at one time from seven different cameras mounted at the front, side and rear of the vehicle, giving the driver all-round visibility including blind spots. Simultaneously, the rear seat monitor can show DVD images.

Sounds like something between an Episode of Pimp My Ride and a James Bond's Aston Martin DB5.

Ahhh onboard cameras

[Indy Media Watch]

This will make it so much easier to film those Getaway in Stockholm videos and other tidbits for "world's wackiest car chases".

Of course the black-box type implications of potential onboard video recording capability can't be underestimated either. Thermal imaging will make driving through the fog slightly easier as well, though I think we'll have to consider the safety implications of geeks at high-speed tweaking onboard surveillance to watch the road rather than actually watching it...

Usefulness

[fembots]

I can already see some uses of this technology.

1. Sensor which alerts owners that their car tyre has been chalked (parking tickets).

2. Sensor to trigger water spray to remove any chalk marks

3. Monitor to checks all four wheels, when you feel/hear something weird, but don't want to stop your car.

4. Monitor to checks if your skirts is trapped between the door and slapping on the tarmac going 100mph.

5. Monitor to show your windscreen wiper spray tank level, so you know when to refill.

Re:Usefulness

[fembots]

I think my #5 is flawed. With that many sensors, the car could have sensed the low level of water in the tank, and proceeds to collect rain water, filter it and refill the tank automatically.

400 Mbps

[Planky]

The multimedia capabilities are made possible by the adoption of a high-speed 1394 optical fiber network communications system which allows a data transmission rate of 400 Mbps (mega- bites per second).

Thats some super speedy eating :D

GTA

[Thomas Henden]

Now, if you can get some more of these cars and play networked GTA with your friends...

Herf Gun vulnerability?

[Anonymous Coward]

Now I can really have fun zapping Nissans...with my /. inspired herf gun.

4 images? been there, done that...

[Karma Sucks]

Knight Rider, anybody?

$2 says...

[Indy Media Watch]

...You will get moderated down instead.

Re:You forgot one

[DigitalHammer]

6. Watch pr0n while driving. Err...on second thought, maybe in-car pr0n wouldnt be a such a great idea. It'd cause insurance premiums to skyrocket, because male drivers' hands sure wouldnt be on the steering wheel. ;)

Re:sweeet

[ryanvm]

I mean, what's more interesting, watching the red light change green or watching Neo take the red pill?

Watching the red light.

Re:Cable Weight

[JanneM]

And don't even get me going on the early British cars with the Lucas electrics.....

Ahh, Lucas - inventor of the electric darkness.

Reminds me of the old joke of why the Brits don't have a computer industry? They have yet to figure out a way to make a CPU leak oil.

Re:Cable Weight

[sshack]

With the way the american public is maybe they should start giving out free jenny craig memberships with every car sold then?

Maybe I'm unclear on the concept, but

[unassimilatible]

wouldn't this require a reeally long spool of wire to drive the car around?

Isn't...

[Bug-Y2K]

FireWire a BUS, not a car?

sorry, couldn't resist.

$3 says...

[nuclear305]

It would be cheaper, easier, and more healthy to get the driver to lose 50lbs before slimming down the car with new wiring.

Digital Cars... It's more than just cable weight.

[anon mouse-cow-aard]

Digital cars will be a great thing. It's not just flying car stuff, but basic, useful improvements every geek would love:

• Those big protrusions out the side of the car... you know, mirrors? Replace them with a pinhole sized camera in the high mounted brake light. Not only does it shave weight, but look at the air flow advantages.
• Put all the LED's in some central part of the car and just pipe the light out to the headlights and tail lights. Switch the signals centrally, so you can use less bulbs (light all three brake lights with a single (plus backup) LED, a single signal light, etc...) The mounting for the lights in the back is then much lighter, and there is no need to route copper power wires back there. Reduced, power, reduced components, reduced weight.
• Like the minivan rear-view cameras, improved visibility, no blind spots, given enough cameras.
• Use infrared cameras to improve night vision (assuming HUD display instead of LCD in dash.)
• The cameras are a prerequisite for the self-driving cars in the future (sensors for the computers)
• All digital dashboard (series of LCD's for the whole instrument panel.) Then you can have three camera views while backing up. and see the speedometer when going forward. This will also make it cheaper to have "sport gauges" and can have dozens of other sensors that just don't fit into a normal dash, but only show up on the displays when they have something important to share. (oil pressure, oil volume, oil temperature, oil viscosity, tire pressure, tire temperature, brake fluid level, coolant level, coolant pressure) All of that could be made much more cheaply.
• Instead of just "check engine" ... how about a dashboard that says: "um, excuse me, this is your engine, I'm running OK, but cylinder 4 has poor ignition, probably needs a new spark plug lead." or "Hi, you've cracked a cylinder head, kiss your wallet goodbye."

A little out of date?

[wrinkledshirt]

Nissan Exhibits IEEE 1394-Compatible Car

Hey, I'm all for retro, but what is IEEE doing trying to set specs for compatibility with the 14th century? We hadn't even harnessed electricity back-

[GONG!]

Re:I want separate wiring

[Anonymous Coward]

The thing is, most of the jackasses on the road don't really know how to drive. Sure, they can navigate their minivan down the road--between the correct lines about 99% of the time--with no distractions... Take 5% away for each cellphone, lipstick, eyeliner, kid, and 50lbs of fat that they're trying to juggle, and it soon becoms apparent that the average person can't drive for shit.

Their reaction time is laughable. They follow way too close, drive way too fast for their ability anc concentration level, and absolutely have a shit when even one drop of water, whatever it's form hits the pavement, and on top of that, they don't care if their car works, just as long as they get to wherever they're going in one piece. I hear far too many brakes squeeling, for instance. That's pretty important, I'd say.

ABS is important in my part of the world. It dosen't ensure that these jackasses will stop in time, but it more or less gurantees that they're going to have at least a little control when they do slam on the brakes... And be assured, they do slam 'em, and especially when it's just a little too close for comfort.

I swear. Drivers should be trained to race on go-karts before they ever touch something that weighs more than a thousand pounds.

Clippy's Revenge

[Grey Tomorrow]

Instead of just "check engine" ... how about a dashboard that says: "um, excuse me, this is your engine, I'm running OK, but cylinder 4 has poor ignition, probably needs a new spark plug lead." or "Hi, you've cracked a cylinder head, kiss your wallet goodbye."

I see you're are trying to drive your car. Would you like me to take over for you?