Nissan Adds Robot Helper To Its Concept Car

narramissic writes "Nissan has mounted a robot passenger in the dashboard of its Pivo2 concept car whose job is to keep the driver happy, give spot-on directions, and even check your e-mail. 'We have data that happy drivers' accident rates are drastically lower than depressed ones, so this robot stays there to make sure the driver is happy always,' said Masato Inoue, chief designer at Nissan's exploratory design group, in an interview at the Motor Show. 'This guides the driver and sometimes cheers up the driver. For example, if the driver is irritated it might say 'Hey, you look somehow angry. Why? Please calm down.'' Other features of this vehicle include a cabin that can turn through 360 degrees so you never have to worry about looking behind when you back up and wheels that can twist 90 degrees, eliminating the need to parallel park." The article includes a video of the car talking to the driver, which is kind of adorable in a 'future is now' sorta way.

Comments

Re:GLaDOS is your friend...trust me!

[theotherbastard]

Do you remember the time I tried to get you to turn the wrong way down a busy one way street and you were all "NO WAY!" and I was like "only kidding!" That was great.

Beep

[spankey51]

"R2! We lost number two cupholder! See if you can't lock it down!"

Cybersex

[g253]

Ok, so how far exactly is this robot willing to go to keep me happy?

*Zzzzzt* -Why master, why?

[cumin]

You can talk to this one, and it responds. There is room here for great use. Let me *borrow* from some other posts:

• Every time I step into my car, it should try to gauge my mood and normally it should tell me a joke. Jokes get categorized by the personality types that find them funny, so most times, when I get into my car, it has something witty to say that I appreciate.
• If I'm in a foul mood, it knows the right way to respond. For me, that means no jokes and just a short pithy saying in the tone that one would associate with Batman's butler.
• If I'm not in a better mood within a couple minutes, it should offer further mood improvement options, based on my tendencies:
  1. If Sir cares for a stoogie, there is a convenience store that sells cigars just to your right in one mile.
  2. Sir might be interested to know there is an electronics store just two miles south of here.
  3. There is a gentleman's club ahead with free steak buffet and cheap liquor. If your majesty cares to indulge, I should be glad to send your bank a request to hold funds beyond $200 this evening and arrange for a cab to pick you up.
  4. The Duke of Earl might be interested to know that his weed supplier Kevin is still out on bond this week. Perhaps I should ring him for you?
• Finally, there should be a little red button beside the hand break. When I press the button the robot should react as if being electrocuted. Short bursts should produce short whimpers then complaint. Longer bursts should produce howls mingled with sobbing and begging. A really long burst should produce incoherent screaming followed by lights out, no movement and no sound (simulated death.) Bonus points if the robot can simulate the voice of people I've talked to on the phone and answer to their name.

Sick? Twisted? Maybe, but I suspect it would do wonders for my mood.

Disclaimer: No, these are not really my tendencies